Sean P. Costello U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama
A Daphne man, Forrest Sanford, was sentenced on April 28 to more than 24 years in prison for transporting a minor across state lines for criminal sexual activity.
The sentencing underscores the ongoing efforts by federal authorities to address child exploitation cases and protect minors from abuse. U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama announced the sentence.
According to court documents, Sanford, age 25, became the subject of an investigation after an anonymous tip in December 2023 reported that he was boasting about obtaining sexual images from a minor online. The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at his residence where Sanford admitted posing as a minor to solicit nude images from minors over the internet. He also admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl in Mississippi while he was an adult and said he transported her between Mississippi and Alabama for sexual purposes. The victim confirmed these admissions, and investigators recovered sexually explicit images of her from Sanford’s phone.
Further investigation revealed that Sanford used social media accounts under false identities to request nude images from individuals claiming to be teenage girls and sent obscene images of himself to users who represented themselves as minors.
Sanford will serve his prison term followed by fifteen years of supervised release. He must pay $100 in special assessments, register as a sex offender upon release, and is prohibited from contacting minors.
The Department of Homeland Security and Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kacey Chappelear and Tandice H. Blackwood prosecuted it on behalf of the United States.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, which brings together federal, state, and local resources nationwide against child exploitation crimes since its launch in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama advances community wellness through outreach programs and victim-witness services according to the official website. The office prosecutes federal crimes and defends civil cases involving the United States according to its website. It designates its leader as chief federal law enforcement officer in this district according to official information, serves communities within southern Alabama as noted on its site, collaborates with other law enforcement agencies according to its website, represents the government in court proceedings as stated online, prosecutes federal crimes while handling civil litigation for the United States government, partners with law enforcement agencies for public safety initiatives, conducts outreach efforts for community well-being, and works toward bolstering trust in judicial processes according to official sources.
