Cardington Man Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of Children
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 09, 2011 |
COLUMBUS—Steven Ray Tackett, 46, of Cardington, was sentenced in United States District Court here to 265 months in prison for taking sexually explicit photos of a 9-year-old girl and posting the pictures on an Internet photo-sharing site. He was also ordered to serve the rest of his life under court supervision after he completes his prison sentence.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Keith L. Bennett, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Cybercrimes Task Force; and Galion Police Chief Brian Saterfield announced the sentence handed down Friday by U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost.
Tackett pleaded guilty on July 9, 2010 to one count of sexual exploitation of children. Detectives in the Galion Police Special Investigation Unit began investigating Tackett as the result of a complaint received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline and shared with the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force based in Cleveland. Galion Police determined that Tackett had recently moved from Galion to Cardington.
Detectives in the Special Investigation Unit questioned Tackett April 8, 2010 in connection with the production of the photographs and referred the case to the FBI task force for investigation and prosecution because the photos had been produced using camera phone that had traveled in interstate commerce.
Tackett admitted to taking the sexually explicit photos of the young girl and then using a computer in the Cardington library to upload the photos to his Internet photo-sharing account.
Tackett has been in custody since he was charged in a federal complaint on May 7, 2010.
“Someone took the time to report what they thought was a crime and by doing that, helped protect other children,” Stewart said. “I urge everyone to join in the fight against child sexual exploitation by reporting instances of child pornography to NCMEC’s CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678.”
Stewart commended the joint investigation and cooperation by the Galion Police Special Investigation Unit, FBI Task Force, and ICAC Task Force, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hunter and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Pelphrey with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Office, who prosecuted the case.