A former director of a youth outreach program was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
Kevin Hickey, 39, of Atlanta, was also sentenced to lifetime supervised release and was ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said. Hickey is a former church youth director and director of parish outreach for Life Teen International, a group focused on "leading teens closer to Christ," according to its website.
"This defendant was entrusted with counseling and protecting children, but instead collected and distributed highly graphic images portraying their sexual exploitation and abuse," Yates said in an emailed statement. "We will to continue to aggressively prosecute those who pose such a great threat to our children."
In June 2013, using his online screen name "funguyatl77," Hickey engaged in an online communication in which he stated that he was watching "perving vids" and offered to share child pornography, Yates' office said. Federal agents monitored the communication of Hickey, she said.
That month, Hickey transmitted a video showing an adult male sexually assaulting two prepubescent males, according to investigators. Hickey further displayed photographs of children he took in public places and was heard engaging in a sex act during the online conversation, according to authorities.
During a search of Hickey's home, Homeland Security investigators found thousands of images of child exploitation on his electronic devices, Yates said. Hickey was arrested on June 6, 2013.
Hickey's attorney had asked the judge for a 60-month sentence, federal court documents show.
"While the Defendant concedes that he sent, or "distributed," pornographic material to the informant, the Defendant never transmitted this material with the expectation to receive pornographic materials in return," Attorney Akil K. Secret wrote in a memorandum.
Hickey will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.