Florence Man Sentenced to 18 Years for Child Pornography Offense

COVINGTON, KY—A 33-year-old Florence, Kentucky man was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for persuading a 14-year-old to send nude photos to him by text message.

This is the first federal sentence in the Eastern District of Kentucky where the U.S. Attorney’s Office used the most severe child pornography law to address the conduct known as “sexting”; it’s a term often used to describe sexually explicit photos and messages sent by a phone.

United States District Judge Danny C. Reeves sentenced Verlin Brett Bailey for producing child pornography, a federal offense that carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years. Producing child pornography requires that a person persuade a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a picture of that conduct.

Bailey admitted at his plea hearing in July of this year that he engaged in sexually graphic text messages with the minor in Kenton County. Bailey persuaded the minor to take sexually explicit pictures with a cell phone, and then text the pictures back to him.

Bailey also admitted that he knew the minor was 14 years old at the time and that he sent graphic pictures of himself to the minor.

Under federal law, a minor is any person under age 18, and any image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct is child pornography.

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney, Steve Knauf, Taylor Mill Police Chief, and Elizabeth Fries, FBI Special Agent in Charge, jointly made the announcement today after the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the Taylor Mill, Kentucky Police Department and the FBI. The United States was represented in the case by the Fort Mitchell Branch Office of the United States Attorney.