LEXINGTON, KY- A
Lexington, Kentucky, woman, Paige Cagle, 26, was sentenced in federal
court on Thursday to 300 months in prison, by U.S. District Judge Karen
Caldwell, after previously admitting using a minor to engage in explicit
conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.
According to Cagle’s plea agreement, on March 1, 2019, officers were
informed from a third party that he had received pornographic images
from Cagle involving children. Cagle admitted to officers that on 4 to 5
occasions, she had sexually abused a minor child from the age of 9
months to approximately 1.5 years old. Cagle further admitted that she
made two videos of the sexual abuse while in Joplin, Missouri, and three
videos of the sexual abuse while in Clark County, Kentucky. Cagle
admitted to sharing the videos she made with others via Dropbox. Cagle
further admitted that she possessed additional images of child
pornography, specifically images of female children ages 4 to 13 years
of age, in her Dropbox account and admitted that she would give out her
Dropbox password, so that others could upload images into her account.
Cagle pleaded guilty in January 2020.
“The defendant’s production of child pornography was particularly
heinous, and the sentence imposed was well justified by the facts of
this case,” said Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the
Eastern District of Kentucky.
Under federal law, Cagle must serve 85 percent of her prison
sentence and upon release from prison will be under the supervision of
the U.S. Probation Office for life.
United States Attorney Duncan; Jerry Templet, Special Agent in Charge
for Homeland Security Investigations; and Commissioner Rodney Brewer,
Kentucky State Police, jointly announced the guilty plea.
The investigation was directed by Homeland Security Investigations
and KSP. The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Lauren Tanner Bradley.
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. Led by
U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation
and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of
Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at
www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years. Source
On March 1, 2019, officers were informed by a third party that Cagle
had sent him pornographic images involving herself and children.
At the time of her arrest, she had two children living with her, a 2-year-old and 11-month-old.
"Because I looked up child pornography" Cagle reportedly said when the police had asked her what she did wrong.
She reportedly was in tears as she told officers she was trying to stop but did not have the chance to reach out for help.
Cagle herself produced five videos: two in Joplin, Missouri, and three in Lexington, Kentucky.
The man prosecutors were looking to originally convict had come
forward with the videos, saying he knew Cagle from Missouri and believed
the video of Cagle involved her daughter.
Investigators searched through Cagle's method of sharing these images.
Cagle, who said she started collecting child sex abuse porn at around
14 or 15, said she created a Dropbox in 2015 to save images she found
and to upload her own.
She said most of the photos came from online sites where she could
meet people who were what she described as "the same" as her, and she
even gave her Dropbox password to others so they could upload their own
content as well. Source
