ASHLAND A Raceland man was sentenced to 10 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning for possession of child pornography.
The sentence isn’t the first time 66-year-old Gary Kendall spent time behind bars for a sex crime. Kendall was sentenced to five years in prison in 2001 by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin of the Southern District of West Virginia for relieving child pornography, according to court records.
In the 2001 case, federal sentencing guidelines set Kendall to be sentenced to two years, however he had previously been convicted in West Virginia for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. Court transcripts from a bond hearing the recent case show in 1993, Kendall was working as a minister when the victim approached him about being victimized by her father.
“In turn, he (Kendall) then victimized her,” a federal prosecutor said.
According to his plea agreement, in 2017 Kentucky State Police began investigating Kendall based on a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
According to the tip, the electronic service provider Chatstep reported to NCMEC that it had information that, on or about Jan. 6, 2017, a suspected image of child pornography had been uploaded by a user of its internet chat service. A search executed at Kendall’s residence revealed a hard drive with five images depicting sexual images of females who were under 12 years old.
Federal court transcripts show Kendall was already under scrutiny after federal agents performed a “knock and talk” a year and a half prior regarding child erotica that had been traced back to his address. The nature of the images was considered pornographic under Kentucky law, but not federal law, per the testimony.
Kendall admitted that he used Chatstep and that he would go to the site, pretending that he was a little girl, to upload images. A search of his computer found more images that were considered questionable, according to the testimony of an FBI agent.
The agent also testified that anti-forensic programs were deployed on the program, erasing files and images.
Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; James Robert Brown, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI Louisville Field Division; and Commissioner Rodney Brewer, Kentucky State Police, made the announcement.
The investigation was directed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily K. Greenfield represented the United States.
Under federal law, Kendall must serve 85% of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years, following his release.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
