Florence Man Sentenced to 162 Months for Distributing Child Pornography

COVINGTON, KY—The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that a Florence, Ky. man who was targeted in a large international child pornography investigation was sentenced yesterday to 162 months in prison and 20 years of supervised release for distributing child pornography.

United States District Judge David L. Bunning imposed the sentenced on 38-year-old Gary A. Thomas in federal court in Covington. Judge Bunning also ordered that after Thomas is released, he will be supervised by U.S. Probation for the rest of his life.

In April 2010, Thomas pleaded guilty to the charge and admitted that he sent and received approximately 2,000 images of child pornography over the Internet for the last several years. His criminal activity was discovered during an international investigation into a child pornography ring in Europe, but the FBI also discovered that he had traded child pornography in the U.S.

Thomas admitted that some of his child pornography images featured prepubescent children and that other images depicted violent and sadistic acts of child abuse. He also acknowledged that he had been trading child pornography images since 2005.

The investigation into Thomas was spearheaded by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office with help from the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The United States was represented in the case by the Fort Mitchell Branch Office of the United States Attorney.

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney, Michael Helmig, Boone County Sheriff, Elizabeth Fries, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, and Robin Dangleish, Postal Inspector in Charge, jointly made the announcement yesterday after sentencing.

Under federal law, Thomas must serve at least 85 percent of his prison term. Upon release, he will be required to register as a sex offender for life.