Taylor County Man Sentenced to 110 Years in Prison for Production and Possession of Child Pornography
Victims were under 5 Years of Age

BOWLING GREEN, KY—A Taylor County, Kentucky man was sentenced in United States District Court before Chief District Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. to 110 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for violating federal child pornography laws, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

Tony Edwin Davis, 50, of Campbellsville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on February 5, 2013, to a 15-count federal grand jury indictment that charged him with production and possession of child pornography. According to court records, between December 18, 2009 and November 28, 2010, on 14 occasions, Davis knowingly enticed and coerced two girls under 5 years of age to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction. Davis also pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly possessing child pornography on or about May 20, 2012.

“Today’s sentence of 110 years in a federal prison without parole should send a stark message. We are committed to fighting child exploitation and to holding accountable those who would prey upon and harm young children,” stated U.S. Attorney Hale. “I am grateful for the collaborative work of the Taylor County Sherriff’s Department, the Campbellsville Police Department, and the FBI. The Campbellsville community is a safer place.”

“Davis victimized the most innocent members of our community in a horrific manner as shown by the sentence in this case,” said Perrye K. Turner, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Lousiville. “The production of child pornography is activity that the FBI aggressively investigates. We work together with our state, local, and other federal law enforcement partners through Project Safe Childhood to help stop it.”

According to an affidavit filed by an FBI special agent in support of a criminal complaint against Davis, the FBI was contacted by the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office and Campbellsville, Kentucky Police Department on August 10, 2012, when a cell phone, formerly in the possession of the defendant, was found to have images of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Spencer McKiness and was investigated by the FBI, the Taylor County Sheriff’s Department, and the Campbellsville Police Department.

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This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”