HONOLULU – A former military police officer was sentenced Monday for the production of child pornography.
Christopher Ernest Fox, 21, was stationed at Schofield Barracks.
According to court documents and information presented in court, in August 2016 Fox began corresponding with a 12-year-old female in the United Kingdom using social media applications, including Instagram and Snapchat.
In September 2016, prosecutors say Fox began to solicit sexually explicit photographs from the girl, knowing she was a minor. After obtaining naked photographs of the girl, Fox then asked for more. Fox used the photographs he initially received from the girl to blackmail her into sending additional explicit photographs, and threatened to distribute the initial photographs to her friends and family if she did not comply with his demands.
Ultimately, when his victim refused to continue sending Fox explicit photographs, prosecutors say he created a fictitious social media account under her name, and used that account to distribute the sexually explicit photographs to her friends and classmates. As a result of Fox’s crime, the minor was bullied, harassed, and threatened with further extortion by random strangers online.
Fox was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and must pay $10,000 in restitution to the victim and her family, and serve 10 years of supervised release.
Fox will also be required to register as a sex offender.
At Monday’s sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright remarked upon the “harm and terror this [crime] would cause somebody.” He went on to call Fox’s actions “a lifechanging, traumatic experience,” and noted, “saying his actions were wrong is a grave understatement.”
The case was investigated by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Wiltshire Police Department in the United Kingdom, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Morgan Early.