In a recent announcement from U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson, Luke Andrew Hemond, a 64-year-old Hickory, N.C. resident, has been sentenced to 121 months in prison for the possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). As detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina, this decision was handed down by U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell. Following his prison term, Hemond will be subjected to a lifetime of court supervision.
Hemond was already on probation for a prior offense of attempted sexual assault while armed in Arizona, when officers discovered incriminating material in his home. On March 20, 2024, North Carolina probation officers, along with law enforcement carried out a routine search of Hemond’s domicile, part of his probationary obligation and to ensure his adherence to sex offender registry statutes. It was during this search that officers found a storage card harboring images of minors being sexually assaulted.
The discovery prompted a warranted sweep of Hemond's residence, culminating in the seizure of numerous electronic devices. Further forensic examination disclosed thousands of images including nude children, minors in abusive scenarios, and at least one image of child bondage. The information disclosed by the U.S. Attorney's Office paints a grim portrait of the materials Hemond had in his possession.
After entering a guilty plea on May 27, for the possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, and a minor who had not reached 12 years of age. Hemond is presently in federal custody, awaiting transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility. The agencies acknowledged for their diligent investigative work on this case include Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, North Carolina's Division of Community Supervision, and multiple North Carolina police departments.
This case falls within the ambit of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative purposed to combat the burgeoning crisis of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Conceived in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, the project unifies efforts from U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) to better locate and prosecute internet-facilitated child exploitation offenders and assist the victims they target.
