HSI investigation results in 40-year of imprisonment for child exploitation of an infant
#NewYork; #ChildExploitation; #40YearsFederalPrison
New York/Canadian-Media: According to the announcement made on Apr 7 by the acting U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Tennessee, 30-year old Anthony Brett Banks, formerly from North Carolina was found guilty of committing child exploitation offenses involving a nine-month-old child and sentenced to 40 years federal prison as a result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from Hamilton County (Tennessee) sheriff’s office and the North Carolina state bureau of investigation.
“Each year, millions of children fall prey to sexual predators,” said Jerry C. Templet, Jr, special agent in charge, HSI Nashville. “HSI agents make it a top priority to protect vulnerable children from victimization by working with their law enforcement partners to investigate predators involved with the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material and ensure they are held accountable for their heinous actions. I commend our agents for their tireless efforts in this case, which resulted in a guilty plea and a lengthy federal prison sentence for the offender.”
According to court documents, Banks sexually abused his nine-month-old biological daughter, created digital videos of the abuse, and traded several of the images with someone he met in an online room dedicated to sexually abusing animals.
Upon his release from prison, Banks is subject to 10 years of supervised release and is required to register with state sex offender registries and comply with special sex offender conditions.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message to sexual predators and demonstrates our commitment to protecting the community’s most vulnerable victims,” said Francis M. Hamilton III, acting U.S. attorney.
As a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), HSI — with a workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries — is responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move.
HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.