KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- On August 29, 2017, Carson Nathan Martin, 38, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, Chief U.S. District Judge, to serve 345 months in prison for producing child pornography. Following his release from prison, Martin will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for the rest of his life and required to register with the sex offender registry in any state in which he resides, works, or attends school.

Martin pleaded guilty in March 2017 to federal charges stemming from his use of a minor female to make pornographic videos and pictures and his distribution of those depictions to others via the Internet. Investigators with the Massachusetts State Police discovered depictions of the of the sexual abuse of the minor that Martin had made and alerted investigators with the Knoxville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (KPD-ICAC) that someone in the Knoxville area was circulating child pornography. A search of Martin’s residence resulted in the seizure of evidence confirming that he had been sexually abusing the minor and recording the abuse on his cellular telephone. He was arrested and has been in custody since the search of his residence.

This investigation was conducted by KPD-ICAC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Morris represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.