A 44-year-old Knoxville man has been sentenced to 10.5 years in federal prison after admitting he distributed child sexual abuse material over the messaging app Kik, including videos sent directly to an undercover FBI agent. Darrell Moore was sentenced on October 30 by U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer to 126 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Moore agreed to plead guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography, according to the Eastern District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney's Office. As reported by WBIR, court-filed documents show that in June 2022, Moore sent videos depicting children under eight years old to an undercover FBI agent.
Search Turned Up Dozens of Illegal Files
Federal agents executed a search warrant at Moore's home in June 2022 and seized his phone, officials say. The station's report notes that investigators found about 40 child sexual abuse images and 62 videos on the device. Moore later admitted to knowingly distributing child pornography to others over Kik.
Beyond his prison term, Moore will serve 20 years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. During that time, he must comply with special sex offender conditions and register with state sex offender registries, officials say.
Part of a Broader Federal Initiative
The case was prosecuted under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The effort is led by United States Attorney's Offices alongside the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
Federal prosecutors elsewhere have pursued similar cases in recent weeks. In Texas, Jose David Carvajal Jr. was sentenced in San Antonio to 216 months in federal prison for distribution of child pornography, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, Western District of Texas. And in Alabama, a Talladega man was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison for distributing child sex abuse material, per the U.S. Department of Justice, Southern District of Alabama.
