Salter Gets 10 Years for Sickening Child Porn Habit

MONTGOMERY, AL – Charles Bennett Salter III, 38, of Montgomery, Alabama, will spend the next ten years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin, Sr. announced the 121-month sentence Wednesday, calling it a just outcome for a particularly disturbing case.

The investigation, launched in February 2018, uncovered a digital cesspool on Salter’s electronic devices. Agents found over 3,000 images and 86 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) painstakingly identified over 1,500 of those images as depicting known victims – real children subjected to horrific abuse. While investigators didn’t immediately locate local victims among the downloaded material, the case took a darker turn.

During sentencing, the judge revealed a chilling secondary discovery: 439 photos of children taken by Salter himself, seemingly in and around Montgomery. These weren’t innocuous snapshots. The images, captured in public places like stores and restaurants, focused on the buttocks and genital areas of unsuspecting children, taken without their knowledge or consent. This wasn’t simply about consuming existing abuse; Salter was actively seeking it out, documenting it, and adding to the demand.

Adding to the depravity, agents searching Salter’s bedroom found a collection of female dolls – one disturbingly posed with its arms bound behind its back – along with children’s underpants and rolls of white duct tape. The evidence painted a clear picture of a man consumed by a predatory obsession, and the judge clearly recognized the threat Salter posed.

“Let me be clear, the possession of child pornography is not a victimless crime,” declared U.S. Attorney Franklin. “The children in these images are real victims, who suffer real trauma when photographed while being molested and/or posing in sexually suggestive positions. In fact, the victimization is repeated each time that photograph is shared with someone else. The evidence proves that Salter had a sexual interest in children and it played a role in creating the demand for child pornography. Even more disturbing was the covert capturing of images of local children. Make no mistake, Salter is a predator and I believe the prison sentence he received was justified and necessary to protect our children from the threat he posed.”

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) spearheaded the investigation, with crucial support from the Montgomery, Prattville, and Tallassee Police Departments, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant United States Attorneys Russell Duraski and Hollie Reed secured the conviction and maximum sentence. Following his release from prison, Salter will face five years of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender – a small measure of accountability for a monstrous crime.

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