REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY VIOLATIONS

LOUISVILLE, KY –James Terry Moore, a multiple convicted felon, age 42, of Louisville, Kentucky, in Jefferson County, was sentenced to life imprisonment for violating federal child exploitation laws, David L. Huber, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, announced today. Moore, a registered sex offender, had previously pled guilty to advertising, receiving, distributing, and possessing child pornography on numerous occasions in 2006. United States District Judge Charles R. Simpson, III, imposed the sentence under a federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e), that requires life imprisonment for certain repeat child sex offenders. There is no parole in the federal judicial system.

United States Attorney David L. Huber said that while Moore’s life sentence in this case was mandated by his prior convictions for statutory rape and gross sexual imposition, or sexual contact, with a child under the age of 13, for which he had served only 2.5 years in jail, his criminal history also included other felony arrests. According to Huber, Moore’s criminal history shows the close connection between contact sex offenders and Internet child pornographers and vividly demonstrates the real danger these types of defendants pose to our children. Huber said that approximately 30 percent of his office’s cases show, in one way or another, that these defendants have had sexual contact with a child. A Federal Bureau of Prisons study of internet pornographers indicates that over 80 percent of these federal prisoners have had some sexual contact with children or minors.

Moore’s Convictions

Moore has two separate convictions from Hamilton County, Ohio, one in 1991 and the other in 1988, for gross sexual imposition. In the 1988 case, Moore pled guilty to a single count of gross sexual imposition with a child under 13. In that case he had “sexual contact” with a female under the age of 13. Under Ohio law, “sexual contact” means any touching of an erogenous zone of another, including the thigh, genitals, buttock, pubic region, or, if the person is a female, a breast, for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either person.

In the 1991 case, Moore pled guilty to two charges of gross sexual imposition. According to court records, in June 1991, Moore engaged in vaginal intercourse with a female under the age of 13. He compelled the victim to submit by force or threat of force. Moore engaged in the same conduct with the same child in July 1991. The two charges were initially brought as rape charges but were amended to gross sexual imposition.

Moore was also arrested for statutory rape by the Shelbyville, Tennessee, Police Department on September 8, 1998, and was subsequently sentenced to two years and six months.

Images of babies being raped

Moore admitted to running a file server with approximately 7,000-8,000 images of child pornography. Approximately 5,000 of the images involved children under the age of 12 engaged in sexual activity - including bondage. These included many images of little girls being raped by adults. One image shows a little girl approximately age 6 wearing a dog collar lying on her back on a bed while crying with her arm across her eyes as an adult man rapes her. Another shows the vaginal area of a baby girl - approximately toddler age on a diaper with her legs spread apart and the photograph focuses on her genital area. Other still images show sexual activity ranging from young girls performing oral sex on adult men, to men penetrating babies’ vaginas with their fingers, and vaginal penetration of young girls, including toddlers, by adult male penises. Other images included still images of young girls (preschool age) being raped by adult males. One video file in Moore’s collection, with a run time of approximately one minute and 42 seconds, bears a title suggesting the rape of a three-year-old child. The video shows an adult male penis raping a very young little girl.

At least 30 files showed previously identified exploited children

Images retrieved from Moore’s computer also included at least 30 files showing children who had previously been identified through the Child Victim Identification Project (CVIP) through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Other

Moore was initially discovered by an FBI Special Agent in Buffalo, New York, who was conducting an internet investigation of child pornography distribution. According to an Affidavit filed by a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Louisville Division, in support of a Criminal Complaint for Moore’s arrest, Moore’s criminal history showed 13 felony arrests and 5 felony convictions. Moore is registered as a convicted sex offender with a reported address on Bermuda Lane, in Louisville, Kentucky. Moore’s criminal history showed that, among other things, he had been arrested on April 29, 1988, for gross sexual imposition, a felony, by the Cincinnati Police Department. Moore was convicted of the charge and sentenced to two years confinement. On February 27, 2002, Moore was arrested for a probation violation for failing to register as a sex offender in Kentucky.

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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.

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