LEXINGTON, KY – The U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky is reporting that a Lexington man, Kevin Daniel Lentz, 49, pleaded guilty on Monday, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Stinnett, to the production and possession of child pornography.
Lentz admitted in his plea agreement that he began an online conversation with the 9-year-old victim, on March 19, 2023. Within minutes, Lentz sent the victim 85 images or videos of adult pornography, including sexually explicit images and videos of Lentz. Lentz also persuaded the victim to create and send multiple sexually explicit videos and images of himself to Lentz via the internet. Lentz acknowledged that, at the time, he knew the victim was a minor.
A search warrant was executed at Lentz's residence in Lexington, on August 8, 2023. The search resulted in the seizure of numerous electronic devices, including a computer, a cellular phone, and multiple hard drives. A search of these devices revealed several hundred additional images and videos of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct that Lentz obtained from the internet.
Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Chief Lawrence Weathers, Lexington Police Department, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was conducted by HSI and Lexington Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Roth is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.
Lentz is scheduled to be sentenced on a date yet to be determined. He faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on for production of child pornography and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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.justice.gov/psc.
— END —
