Jackson, TN - John McKinney, 71, of Bolivar, TN was sentenced yesterday to a total of 480 months in federal prison, following his September conviction on four counts of producing child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton III.
Chief U.S. District Judge J. Daniel Breen sentenced McKinney to 360 months in prison for each production charge, with the sentences set to run concurrently. Judge Breen further sentenced McKinney to 120 months in prison for the possession charge, with the sentence set to run consecutive to the other sentences. There is no parole in the federal prison system.
“Today’s sentence of 480 months reflects this community’s intolerance for the predatory acts committed by John McKinney," said U.S. Attorney Stanton. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue anyone who commits such heinous crimes and ensure that they face the full consequences of the law.
According to facts revealed during the trial, McKinney took sexually explicit pictures of girls as young as nine years old while the girls were visiting at his home. According to the sworn testimony of the mother of one victim, her younger daughter saw sexually explicit photos on McKinney’s computer. Investigators confiscated more than 87 CDs from a building on McKinney’s farm that contained pictures that he had taken depicting child pornography.
On June 25, 2013, McKinney was convicted by a federal jury of four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition. The guns and ammunition were discovered during the search of his home that revealed the pornographic photos. On Sept. 27, 2013, Judge Breen sentenced McKinney to 33 months in prison on those charges. That sentence will run consecutive to his other sentences.
This case was investigated by the Hardeman County Sheriff’s Office, the Jackson Police Department and the FBI in Jackson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deb Ireland and James Powell represented the government.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative of 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, PSC 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 PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources." #
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
