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Press Release

Former Louisville Teacher Sentenced To 504 Months In Prison For Violating Child Exploitation Laws Including Enticement, Production, Distribution And Possession Of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Kentucky

Defendant met in person with three minors from the Louisville area to engage in sexual activity

Defendant used 16 different minors to produce child pornography using social media

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The former Louisville teacher and assistant football coach, previously employed by a parochial high school, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by United States District Judge David J. Hale, to 504 months in prison and a lifetime of supervised release, for violating child exploitation laws, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. 

Patrick Newman, age 33, previously pleaded guilty to 16 counts of producing child pornography, one count of online enticement of a minor, one count of transporting child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography.  The charges involved 16 different victims, all boys.  The ages of the children ranged from 12 to 17.  Newman engaged in sexual activity with three minors from the Louisville area and recorded the sexual activity with one of the minor aged victims. According to information exchanged during online communications, the remaining victims are from Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Utah, Oregon, and the United Kingdom.

“This significant sentence reflects the severity of Mr. Newman’s crimes and is an appropriate punishment in light of the terrible harm he caused the multitude of vulnerable 12 to 17 year-old victims, their families, and a high school community,” stated U.S. Attorney John Kuhn. “Protecting our children will always be the highest priority of this office, and we will continue to prosecute those who exploit children as vigorously as the law allows.”

According to the Affidavit attached to a previous criminal complaint, the investigation started in early 2015, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a CyberTip from Twitter, Inc. regarding the upload of child pornography materials to VINE (a video sharing website owned by Twitter) from the same IP address in Texas, between 12-28-2014 and 12-30-2014.  Law enforcement officials in Texas identified the child depicted in the images and later identified Newman as an adult who had been communicating with the child and obtaining sexually explicit images of the child.

Law enforcement officials executed a federal search warrant on Newman’s Louisville home in early June.  Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested Newman that same day.  During a recorded, post-Miranda interview, Newman admitted a sexual interest in boys 13-17 years of age.  He also admitted to communicating with minors through social media tools/applications such as KIK, VINE, Snapchat and Topix for the past two years.

Forensic examination of Newman’s cellular telephone revealed electronic communications between him and many other individuals involving the sexual exploitation of minors.  Based on representations during those communications, Newman solicited and obtained sexually explicit images from 16 boys under the age of 18.  He gave specific directions to some of the children as to what he wanted them to do, record, and send to him.  With one child, he specifically asked for sadistic images.  Newman met at least three boys in person and one (age 15) on several occasions.  Newman and the minor boy engaged in sexual activity which Newman recorded – using his phone.  He told other people, via social media, about his sexual activities with the boy and transported/distributed the videos to them.  He also shared other images and videos of child pornography with people via social media.  According to a review of his phone, he transported/distributed child pornography to 56 people, in addition to the 16 minors.  Also, a review of Newman’s “Dropbox” account, found that he possessed 87 videos depicting child pornography involving boys.

Newman has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 1, 2015. 

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case.  The investigation was led by HSI Louisville Division of the Department of Homeland Security, with assistance from state, local, and federal law enforcement entities in Kentucky, Indiana and Texas.

This case was 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.usdoj.gov/psc  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."     

 

Updated January 6, 2016

Topic
Project Safe Childhood