PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain
announced that Ryan Antrim, 29, of Allentown, Pennsylvania was sentenced to 20
years’ imprisonment and a lifetime of supervised release by United States
District Court Judge Edward G. Smith, for the distribution, receipt, and
possession of child pornography.
Between July and November 2017, the defendant utilized Kik
Messenger (Kik), a free proprietary instant messaging software application
primarily for mobile devices, as a way to join a Kik group focused on the
sexual abuse of children. As a member of this group, Antrim distributed various
images and videos, and also received sexually explicit images of young children
under the age of twelve years old. On February 15, 2019, Antrim pled guilty to
all charges.
“Antrim took part in a repugnant online community that
glorified the sexual exploitation of children,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain.
“Distributing sexually explicit videos and photos of young children is
reprehensible behavior that demands swift justice. My Office will continue to
aggressively prosecute these types of crimes in order to deter this repulsive
behavior and protect children.”
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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child
Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney
Sherri A. Stephan.
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