Chip Hollingsworth, Child Pornography, North Carolina 2023

A former elementary school teacher from Cary, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for child pornography charges.

Chip Hollingsworth, 44, of Cary, North Carolina, was sentenced to 144 months in prison after pleading guilty to eleven counts charging receipt and possession of child pornography, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The charges stem from an undercover investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2018, during which Hollingsworth transmitted child pornography to an undercover investigator and requested images of 10-12-year-old boys.

Law enforcement identified Hollingsworth as the user of a Gigatribe account, which was used to obtain, view, and share child pornography. A search warrant was executed at Hollingsworth’s residence on August 20, 2018, and multiple electronic devices were seized and examined.

According to court documents, nearly 1,500 images and videos were found that constitute child pornography, the majority depicting children under 12. File metadata showed that Hollingsworth had received the files on dates from as early as August 29, 2008, to July 21, 2018.

U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr., commented on the sentence, saying, ‘We are grateful for the sentence handed down by the Court today. The sexual exploitation of the most vulnerable among us – our children – is one of the worst offenses we are working to stop in communities all across the Eastern District.’

This case is part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.

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