Virginia Man Sentenced for Child Exploitation Offenses

 ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Bluemont man was sentenced today to 19 years in prison for the production and distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents, Kevin Hewlett, 36, was convicted by a federal jury on October 8, 2020, of producing and distributing child pornography. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hewlett was a farrier, a craftsman who trims and shoes horses’ hooves. He was hired to be the farrier to a minor girl’s horses. Hewlett began communicating with the minor regularly through text messages and social media applications. Then in August 2018, Hewlett recorded himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the minor in his bedroom. A few months later, in January 2019, Hewlett sent the minor the recording.

Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh of the Eastern District of Virginia; Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.

This case was investigated by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task force, which is composed of FBI agents along with local, state, and federal partners.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Smith III and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section prosecuted the case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.