LEX18.com - Lexington, KY

Posted: Nov 20, 2009 4:57 PM

A U.S. Army Staff Sergeant from Tennessee was sentenced Friday in federal court to over 12 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for distributing child pornography to a Mercer County woman.

Patrick M. Reilly, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of child pornography. Reilly admitted that in January and February 2008 he communicated with an adult female on Yahoo’s instant messenger, whom he had prior sexual relations with, about grooming a minor for sexual intercourse. Reilly admitted he specifically suggested to the adult female to befriend a runaway or a drug-addicted child to groom.

The plea agreement states that Reilly sent 12 child pornography videos to the adult female’s Yahoo account that included minors as young as six years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults and bestiality images.

In addition, Reilly admitted that in 2006 he asked a female in western Kentucky to allow her three-year-old child to perform a sex act on him. This female testified in court that she sent a child pornography video to Reilly at his request while he was in Iraq.

According to the plea agreement, in February  2008 after the Mercer County female received some of the child pornography, she turned her Yahoo account over to a Kentucky State Police detective who began chatting with Reilly.

The detective, who was posing as the adult female, told Reilly in their online chat that he found a 14 -year-old child. Reilly immediately sent child pornography videos to the detective and offered specific instructions on what to do sexually with the child to prepare her for his sexual encounter with the child. Reilly arranged a meeting at his Tennessee residence with the undercover detective and the 14-year-old child on a day when Reilly said his family would be out of town.

On the day of the meeting, Reilly answered the door only to find law enforcement, which searched his residence and seized his computer and other related electronic equipment. A forensics examination revealed approximately 1,500 photos and videos of child pornography that featured images of children as young as four.