KENTON COUNTY, Ky. — A Kenton County man will spend the next two decades behind bars after being handed the maximum sentence for possessing child pornography that the lead prosecutor described as "horrific."
Emmanuel Curry, 21, was arrested in February 2021 after police found 69 files containing illicit images on his phone.
Some of the images included sexual abuse of infants so young they were still wearing hospital bracelets, according to a press release from the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Office
"I prosecute monsters every day, and have seen some horrific evidence over the years, but I've never seen anything this sick and twisted," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Emily Arnzen said.
The investigation into Curry began after a detective got a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerting to someone at an IP address in Kenton County who was using known images of child pornography to search for even more images of child pornography.
This process is often referred to as "reverse image searching." Curry was allegedly using Bing to search for the images. According to a press release the search engine recognized the images as those known to depict the sexual abuse of children between two and four years old.
When officers arrived at the location of the IP address, they discovered that Curry and his father lived in the home. At the time, police could not make an arrest since they had not determined which man was responsible.
A short time after officers seized all the electronics at the home, Curry's father brought his son to the police station and told investigators Curry confessed to downloading the images.
Curry pleaded guilty to possessing 69 counts of child pornography and one count of tampering with evidence without the benefit of a plea agreement in April.
Kentucky law caps sentences for Class C and D felonies at 20 years. Curry must serve more than 20% of his sentence or he must complete Kentucky's sexual offender treatment program before being eligible for parole.
"It's unfortunate Kentucky law caps the possible sentence for possessing child porn at 20 years because he deserves far more," Arnzen said.
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