Mason Man Receives 80-Year Sentence for Production of Child Pornography

CINCINNATI—Andrew Faires Keith, 29, of Mason, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 80 years in prison for taking sexually explicit photographs of two children less than 9 years old who were in daycare at his mother’s house and trading the images over the Internet.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cincinnati Division (FBI); and West Chester Police Chief Erik Niehaus announced the sentence handed down today by Chief U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

Keith pleaded guilty on May 9, 2011 to 15 counts of producing child pornography and one count each of transportation and possession of child pornography.

According to a statement of facts filed with the guilty pleas, Keith traded 15 photographs he had taken of him sexually assaulting a child with an individual in Las Vegas, Nevada who then traded them with an individual in South Carolina who was under investigation for trading child pornography. FBI agents searched Keith’s Mason home and a storage unit he rented in February 2011. They seized cell phones, computers, zip drives and other similar products. Forensic analysis found Keith still possessed the above-referenced photographs in addition to numerous other images of child pornography. Some of the other images possessed by Keith included images of children as young as infants being sexually abused. The total number of images is well in excess of 600.

“Keith continued to exploit children by trading hundreds of sexual abuse images he took with others,” Stewart said. “Because Keith used these images as a means of currency to receive other images, the photographs are forever in the stream of commerce. They can never be removed from the worldwide web.”

FBI agents and West Chester Police arrested Keith on January 20, 2011 after a federal grand jury indicted him. He has been in custody since his arrest.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by FBI agents and West Chester Police detectives, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy, who prosecuted the case.