A British citizen has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for producing child pornography in a case that spanned multiple years and continents.
Simon Jasper McCarty, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright of the District of Hawaii. In addition to his prison sentence, McCarty was sentenced to serve lifetime supervised release and pay $98,458 in restitution.
McCarty pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography on Jan. 10, 2012. At the time of the plea colloquy, McCarty admitted that between 2005 and 2007, he molested three different prepubescent boys outside of the United States and produced videos of the molestation.
McCarty was apprehended on Aug. 5, 2008, when he attempted to fly from Hilo, Hawaii, to Honolulu with computer media that contained child pornography. A forensics examination of the media revealed approximately 400 still images and nearly 200 videos of child pornography.
Approximately 60 of the videos featured the three minors who were molested by McCarty. McCarty brought the computer media with him when he flew from the United Kingdom to Hawaii on July 28, 2008.
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 U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children as well as to identify and rescue victims.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Tong of the District of Hawaii and Assistant Deputy Chief Alexandra Gelber and Trial Attorney Mi Yung Park of CEOS. The case was investigated by the Honolulu Office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Hawaii County Police Department, Hawaii Department of Transportation, the Transportation and Security Administration and CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit.
McCarty’s actions are a stark reminder of the devastating impact of child sexual exploitation. His victims will have to live with the trauma of his abuse for the rest of their lives.
The DOJ’s efforts to combat child sexual exploitation are commendable, but more needs to be done to protect our children from predators like McCarty.
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