Nathan David Hankins, Receipt of Child Pornography, South Dakota 2023

A Rapid City man has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a child pornography case.

Nathan David Hankins, 30, was sentenced to two 10-year terms in federal prison, to run concurrently, after being convicted of Receipt of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on August 29, 2023.

Hankins was federally indicted following a Cybertip from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children in relation to a download of child pornography from Hankins’ Google account. The Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce executed a search warrant on Hankins’ residence and located several devices. A forensic examination of those devices found hundreds of images of child pornography.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Hankins was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release and ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. His federal custody time will run consecutively with a previously imposed state custody sentence.

The case was investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Collins prosecuted the case. Hankins was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

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