Attention: News Director PRESS RELEASE May 23, 2007	U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY Eastern District of Kentucky

 

LONDON, Ky. — A Whitley County man, Derek Hodge, was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography by United States District Court Judge Danny C. Reeves, announced U.S. Attorney Amul R. Thapar. Hodge pleaded guilty to the charges in February of this year.

Under federal law, Hodge must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Also as part of his sentence, upon release, Hodge will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for the rest of his life.

In the course of his guilty plea, Hodge, 37, of Corbin, Ky., admitted from about November of 2005 through March of 2006, in Whitley County, he knowingly received numerous images of minors engaged in various forms of sexually explicit conduct. Hodge received the images via computer, including by numerous subscriptions to “newsgroups,” and admitted that these images portrayed children ranging in age from infants to teenagers.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Corbin Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Erin J. May represented the United States in the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.