Nevada Man Sentenced to More Than 20 Years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting Kentucky Child

LEXINGTON, KY—The United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) announced today that a Las Vegas County man was sentenced yesterday to 244 months in prison by United States Senior District Judge Joseph Hood for sexually exploiting a 12-year-old child with the help of the child’s father.

Hood sentenced 38-year-old Sean Marcus Hix for conspiring to produce child pornography and receipt of child pornography.

Hix conspired with co-defendant Stephen Meade of Boyle County, whom he met online, to produce sexually explicit photos of Meade’s daughter. Hix represented himself online as a young attractive adult female when the two met.

Hix admitted that between February and April of 2007, he received nude photographs from Meade of Meade’s daughter. Meade and Hix chatted online for more than a year about persuading Meade’s daughter to pose for sexually explicit photographs so they could profit from the photographs.

A search of Hix’s residence in Las Vegas revealed thousands of images of child pornography including nude photographs of Meade’s daughter.

Meade was sentenced to 262 months in August for the same offenses.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boyle County Sheriff’s Department and Kentucky State Police. The United States was represented in the case by Assistant United States Attorney Hydee R. Hawkins. USAO received assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada and the Boyle County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.

This case was brought as part of the Eastern District of Kentucky’s efforts pursuant to Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative dedicated to protecting children from online exploitation and abuse.