A west Texas man who had discussed participating in child sex abuse online was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for distributing sexually explicit images of minors.
The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas office said, Jacob Corey Penton, 30, was indicted on a charge of receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Penton is from Plainview, a city in Hale County, north of Lubbock.
According to court documents, law enforcement received information claiming Penton had said he was sexually attracted to children on an encrypted chat app. According to the tip, he stated on the app that he sexually assaulted a minor. That tip was the beginning of the investigation into Penton.
Agents analyzed a Kik account belonging to him and found 15 pornographic images of children. The images consisted of children as young as four being sexually abused.
In March, Penton pleaded guilty to the crime. He admitted to sharing some of the videos with other Kik users after he received them.
Penton was sentenced on July 21 by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix.