GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – On August 20, 2018, Donnie Taylor, 44, of Bean Station, Tennessee, was sentenced by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge, to serve 168 months in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for distribution of child pornography in east Tennessee.

According to his plea agreement on file with U.S. District Court, Taylor admitted to sending multiple images of child pornography via social media. A special agent with the Department of Homeland Security logged into a social media account to interact and identify potential possessors and distributors of child pornography. The agent encountered Taylor and began a private message conversation. Taylor sent multiple private messages containing child pornography to the agent. In addition, agents determined that Taylor distributed child pornography to other persons on social media.

This investigation was the product of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Knoxville Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force and Tennessee Highway Patrol. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan Gomez represented the United States in court proceedings.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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, PSC 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 PSC, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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