⏱ 2 min read
A depraved Cherokee County Deputy Sheriff used his badge to prey on the world’s most vulnerable victims: children. Stephen Michael Bunte, 43, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for enticement of a minor and receipt of child sexual abuse material, a federal judge ruled.
HSI agents in the Philippines identified a child trafficker who offered customers access to children under 12 via webcam livestreams in August 2023. The trafficker, who had ties to Bunte, offered hands-on access to the kids, including his own children.
Agents discovered Bunte’s involvement in March 2024. The former deputy’s crimes were international in scope, but the harm was intimate: Bunte had paid to sexually exploit the children, some as young as 8, in the Philippines.
Bunte’s betrayal of the badge is a sickening reminder that some cops will abuse their power to commit the darkest crimes. His sentence should serve as a warning to predators: you will be caught and you will be punished.
Related Federal Cases
- James Grimes, Child Pornography, Georgia 2015 · Minnesota
- Claude Martin Johnson IV, Possession of Child Pornography, Georgia 2023 · Maine
- Eight Georgia Residents, Online Child Coercion, Georgia 2024 · Georgia
- Adree Villanueva, Child Sexual Exploitation, Georgia 2023 · Georgia
- Christian Baumgarth, Distributing Child Pornography, Georgia 2023 · Maine
📋 Key Facts
- Crime: Sex Crimes
- Defendant: georgia
- Location: GA
- Source: DOJ Press Release
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