Louisville Man Sentenced for Online Child Exploitation

Louisville Man Sentenced for Online Child Exploitation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom sentenced Scott Louis Craven to 48 months in federal prison followed by 20 years of Supervised Release this week for distribution of obscene material to a person he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, announced United States Attorney Russell M. Coleman. Craven will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

According to court records and the plea agreement, during April 2017, an investigator with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office – Department of Criminal Investigations conducted an online undercover investigation. During that investigation, the investigator (in his undercover capacity), was contacted by Craven while both were using the social media platform KIK. The investigator identified himself as a 15-year-old girl from Louisville. During the online conversations, particularly on April 28, 2017, Craven sent the undercover investigator nude images of himself along with sexually graphic videos.

Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless prosecuted the case. The Kentucky Office of Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation with assistance from the Louisville Metro Police Department and the United States Secret Service.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the federal government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

The Louisville community is safer tonight thanks to the tireless efforts of law enforcement agencies working together to protect its children.

Craven’s sentence serves as a warning to anyone who would seek to exploit and harm our children.