Defendant met in person with 15 year old to engage in and record sexual activity
Defendant used 16 different minors to produce child pornography using social media
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Louisville man previously employed by a parochial high school located in Jefferson County, Kentucky, as a high school teacher and assistant coach with the school’s athletics department, pled guilty today in United States District Court to violating child exploitation laws announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. United States District Judge David J. Hale accepted the guilty pleas.
Patrick Newman, age 33, was previously charged in a Criminal Complaint and then felony Information. He pled 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. Three victims are from Kentucky, including at least one of whom Newman met in person. According to information exchanged during their online communications, the remaining victims are from Texas, Ohio, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Utah, Oregon, and the United Kingdom.
"These were unspeakable crimes, victimizing vulnerable and impressionable minors," stated U.S. Attorney Kuhn. “Protecting our children will always be the highest priority of this office, and we will continue to prosecute those who exploit children to the fullest extent of the law."
According to the Affidavit attached to a previous criminal complaint, the investigation started earlier this year 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 him. With one child, he specifically asked for sadistic images involving a plunger. Newman met at least one boy (age 15) in person on several occasions. The two 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, he possessed 87 videos depicting child pornography involving boys.
Newman has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 1, 2015. He faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 15 years followed by a 5-year period of Supervised Release. The maximum potential penalties are life in prison, a $4,750,000.00 fine, and up to and including a life period of Supervised Release. A sentencing hearing will be held on December 16 2015, at 1:30pm, before United States District Judge Hale.
Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless is prosecuting the case. The investigation is being 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."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
