Arkansas Man Sentenced To 20 Years In Federal Prison For Soliciting And Paying For The Production Of A Video Depicting A 9-Year-Old Child Being Molested

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Brian J. Davis has sentenced Cody Dillon Hogan (27, Leachville, Arkansas) to 20 years in federal prison for using the internet to solicit and pay an individual to molest a 9-year-old child and to create a video recording depicting this sexual abuse. Hogan was also ordered to serve a life term of supervised release, pay $71,000 in restitution to child victims, and register as a sex offender. Hogan was arrested on November 9, 2020 and has been detained awaiting sentencing. Hogan had pleaded guilty on June 15, 2021.    

According to court documents, in December 2019, an undercover FBI agent in Jacksonville, who was posing as a parent of a 9-year-old child, made contact with Hogan in an online social media application (app). During an online conversation, Hogan, using the user name “stonetelephone,” sent the undercover agent a photo of his genitalia and asked for “naughty” photos of the purported 9-year-old “child.” Hogan offered to pay the “parent” to create and send him a video of the “child” being sexually abused by the “parent.” Hogan gave instructions as to exactly how he wanted to see the “child” being molested in the requested video, and he sent the undercover agent a $50 gift card in prepayment for the video. For over a month, Hogan continued to solicit the undercover agent to produce and send him a video of the 9-year-old “child” being molested, and he provided instructions on alternate ways to send it to him using group sharing accounts and online cloud storage. During one online conversation, Hogan stated, “After I see this video there could be all kinds of money and requests coming your way lol.”

Later, FBI agents and other law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Hogan’s residence in Arkansas and arrested him. During an interview, Hogan admitted that he had engaged in online conversations with the parent of a 9-year-old child about producing and sending him a pornographic video of the child. He also stated that he had solicited three other children over the internet to produce and send him sexually explicit photos of themselves. Hogan stated that he has viewed pornographic images depicting infants. Forensic examination of Hogan’s iPhone and his custom-built computer revealed that these devices contained more than 1,000 videos and 5,000 images, some of which were arranged and categorized in user-created folders and all of which depicted the sexual abuse of young children, including sadistic conduct.      

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Jacksonville, Florida, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, together with the Jonesboro (Arkansas) Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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.justice.gov/psc.