DETROIT – A 53-year-old Metro Detroit man was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after exploiting over 100 minors for child pornography.
The United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Michigan announced Wednesday that Kenneth Hartley, 53, of Taylor, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.
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During the case, Hartley admitted to catfishing a boy in 1995, posing as a teenage girl on Skype, and persuading the minor to send sexually explicit images.
In another incident, Hartley admitted to using the social media app Kik to gather sexually explicit images from two 13-year-old boys in 2014 and 2015.
According to a news release, Hartley victimized over 100 minors and was in possession of 46,153 images of child pornography.
Through the investigation, agents have been able to identify 29 of the victims. Officials state that 17 of the 29 were under the age of 12. Hartley’s youngest victim was an 8-year-old.
“In addition to possessing child pornography, Mr. Hartley actively created it for himself and others by exploiting vulnerable children around the world,” said James A. Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division. “The FBI considers the investigation and prosecution of predators like this defendant to be of the highest priority. Today’s sentence serves as a warning to others like him the FBI will aggressively pursue anyone who victimizes and exploits children.