LEXINGTON, KY- Paige Cagle, 26, of Lexington, admitted to using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography, on Wednesday, before U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell.
According to Cagle’s plea agreement, on March 1, 2019, officers were informed from a third party that he had received pornographic images from Cagle involving her children. Cagle admitted to officers that on 4 to 5 occasions, she had sexually abused one of her minor children from the age of 9 months to approximately 1.5 years old. Cagle further admitted that she made two videos of the sexual abuse while in Joplin, Missouri, and three videos of the sexual abuse while in Clark County, Kentucky. Cagle admitted to sharing the videos she made with others via Dropbox. Cagle further admitted that she possessed other images of child pornography, specifically images of female children ages 4 to 13 years of age, in her Dropbox account and admitted that she would give out her Dropbox password, so that others could upload images into her account.
Cagle was indicted in April 2019.
“There is no matter of greater importance to law enforcement than protecting innocent children from being violated and abused during the production of child pornography,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. “This investigation and prosecution ensures for the foreseeable future that the defendant will not be able to continue to physically victimize her children.”
United States Attorney Duncan, and Steven L. Igyarto, Resident Agent in Charge for Homeland Security; and Commissioner Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and KSP. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dmitry Slavin and Lauren Tanner Bradley.
Cagle is scheduled to be sentenced on April 30, 2020. She faces a mandatory 15 years in prison, up to a maximum of 30 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $250,000. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.
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