Ryan James Day, 32, of Ellis, Kansas, and formerly of Clarksville, Tenn., was sentenced on Monday, by United States District Court Judge Aleta Trauger, to 50 years in prison for production of child pornography, announced Jack Smith, Acting United States Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The investigation began in June 2015 when Day communicated with an undercover law enforcement officer who was posing online as someone interested in child pornography. During their online conversation, Day told the undercover detective that he was sexually active with a minor and sent pornographic photos of the victim to the detective. Day also told the detective that he wanted to have sex with a minor whom he believed to be the detective’s young child and that he was attempting to persuade yet another minor female to have sex with him.
The FBI and local authorities determined the location of the device from which the images were being sent and responded to Day’s home in Kansas within hours of his transmission of child pornography. An examination of Day’s phone and personal computer revealed hundreds of pornographic images of children, including the images of the victim that were sent to the detective.
Day was indicted on four counts of production of child pornography in December 2015 and pleaded guilty to all counts on Feb. 22, 2017. According to the charging document and other court filings, Day began sexually abusing the victim in 2009, when he lived in Clarksville and the victim was approximately 5 years old. Over a period of several years, Day sexually abused the victim on numerous occasions and photographed the abuse. After moving to Kansas, Day distributed the images online in an effort to obtain images of other minors being sexually abused.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department and the Ellis County, Kansas Sheriff’s Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry C. Leventis and Rascoe Dean.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
