Kearney Man Sentenced to 20 Years on Child Pornography Charges

KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kearney, Missouri man was sentenced in federal court today for producing and possessing child pornography.
Austin D. Hurtado, 20, of Kearney, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan to 20 years in federal prison without parole.
Hurtado pleaded guilty on February 8, 2013, to one count of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. According to his plea agreement, an FBI agent identified Hurtado’s computer (at his former residence in Smithville, Missouri) as sharing child pornography over the Internet. Using a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, the agent downloaded images of child pornography from Hurtado’s computer on November 21 and 22, 2011.
Hurtado’s two laptop computers were seized by law enforcement officers and a forensic examiner found they contained numerous videos of an 8-year-old child in the shower. Hurtado’s face was visible in at least one of those videos. The forensic examiner also found the same child victim in additional numerous photos and videos of child pornography. Hurtado possessed 191 child pornography videos and more than 80 images of child pornography.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Hurtado must pay a total of $10,000 in restitution to two of the victims portrayed in those images and movies, or $6,000 if he pays the restitution within 30 days.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore. It was investigated by the FBI.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "Resources."