Jacob Elijah Kilgore, a 29-year-old resident of Boone, North Carolina, has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison for transporting child pornography via the dark web. The announcement was made by Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following his prison term, Kilgore will be subject to lifetime supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
The sentencing follows an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Boone Police Department. In February 2023, authorities discovered that Kilgore had shared over 150 videos and images depicting child sexual abuse on the dark web. A search of his apartment uncovered a homemade laptop with 11 integrated hard drives containing extensive child pornography materials.
Kilgore admitted during an interview with law enforcement to downloading and distributing child pornography using peer-to-peer networks. He pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography on December 8, 2023.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell emphasized the severity of such crimes by stating that “this kind of conduct leads to long prison sentences.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Cervantes as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.