District Man Pleads Guilty to Photographing a 7-Year-Old Child While Sexually Abusing Her

WASHINGTON—McKinley Hunt, a 45-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., pled guilty on December 11, 2009, before the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of Production of Child Pornography and two counts of First Degree Child Sexual Abuse with Aggravating Circumstances, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Cathy L. Lanier, and Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Joseph Persichini, Jr.

At sentencing, which is scheduled for March 23, 2010, Hunt faces an agreed upon sentence of 25 years in prison. According to the evidence presented at the plea, in June 2009, the child victim reported to a family member that Hunt had sexually abused her several times during the past three years, beginning when she was 7 years old.

On July 1, 2009, members of the Metropolitan Police Department arrested Hunt. A subsequent search of Hunt and his room in a rooming house revealed that he possessed more than 50 images of the child, including photographs of the child in sexually explicit poses and photographs of the defendant performing sexual acts on the child. The photographs were saved on Hunt’s computers. Also saved on Hunt’s computers were numerous still images and videos of other children engaging in sexual activity.

Following his arrest, Hunt admitted sexually abusing the child on multiple occasions between the time the child was 7 years old through the present age of the child. Hunt also admitted photographing the child in sexually explicit poses.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood and the Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing the guilty plea, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips, MPD Chief Lanier, and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended the outstanding work of Victim Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant, D.C. MPD Detectives Timothy Palchak and Andre Davis, FBI Special Agents Michael French and Chris Dudley, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julieanne Himelstein and Cassidy Kesler Pinegar who investigated and prosecuted the case.