Former University of Kentucky Student Sentenced for Receiving Child Pornography

LEXINGTON—A Lexington man was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for receiving thousands of child pornography images.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer B. Coffman sentenced 23-year-old Kevin Coley, who was a University of Kentucky student at the time of the offense, on one count of receipt of child pornography.

Testimony at sentencing revealed that Coley used file-sharing software to collect approximately 40,000 images of child pornography. Many of the child pornography videos downloaded by Coley were violent and others showed sexually explicit images of toddlers and infants as young as 2 years old.

According to the plea agreement, authorities examined Coley’s computer and also discovered numerous photos of clothed children in the same computer folder as the child pornography images. A detective with Lexington Metro Police Department testified that Coley photographed children between the ages of 3 and 7 years old at a park, a funeral, and a local child care facility that he volunteered at.

Many of the photos were taken without the knowledge of the children and the director of the child care facility said he did not authorize Coley to take the photos.

Coley was identified during Lexington Police’s investigation into the online trading of child pornography in 2009.

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Elizabeth A. Fries, Special Agent in Charge, FBI; and Ronnie Bastin, Lexington Police Chief, jointly announced the sentencing.

Under federal law, Coley will have to serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

The investigation was conducted by Lexington Police.