Kewaunee man, 19, sentenced to federal prison after police said he had 4,400 images of child porn

Posted Friday, September 6, 2019 8:57 pm

MILWAUKEE - A Kewaunee man was sentenced to five years in federal prison after police said they found more than 4,000 sexual images of children as young as infants on his cellphone.

Kyle D. Sanderson, 19, was charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on two counts of distribution and one count of possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to one distribution count.

In April 2018, the Department of Homeland Security was notified by a Canadian-based social media company that an online user under the name “Rp.Destiny” was sending pornographic images and videos of children to another user.

Local police sought a search warrant and identified “Rp.Destiny” as Sanderson.

Further investigation showed that Sanderson exchanged pass codes with another person online, which allowed them to access each other’s child porn libraries through a cloud storage application based in New Zealand.

In total, investigators found about 4,400 images or videos depicting pornography on Sanderson’s smart phone, many involving the abuse of toddlers and infants.

Eastern District of Wisconsin Chief Judge William Griesbach noted the serious nature of the crime and the need to send a message of deterrence while issuing his sentence. According to an earlier press release from federal prosecutors, Sanderson faced a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison if he was convicted on all counts.

Sanderson also will spend five years on supervised release after his prison sentence. He also will have to register as a sex offender.

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The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit projectsafechildhood.gov.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-741-7952, 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Kewaunee man, 19, sentenced to federal prison after police said he had 4,400 images of child porn