HOUSTON – A 26-year-old Houston man has been ordered to 15 years in federal prison following his conviction of receipt of child pornography, the United States Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Ja-Anthony Ledell Kennedy pleaded guilty on April 24.
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Kennedy was sentenced to 180 months. He was further ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years on supervised release following the completion of the prison term, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said.
During that time, the DOJ said Kennedy would have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Kennedy will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
In 2020, authorities said they learned of files being stored online that contained images of child pornography. Those files were allegedly linked to Kennedy.
Investigators said Kennedy had been sending and receiving images and videos of child pornography on the Kik messaging application from 2020 to 2021. Kennedy admitted to trading child pornography in the Kik chats to continue to receive access to this material, authorities said.
According to a news release, Kennedy had 76 videos and 60 images of child pornography in his online accounts. Some included victims as young as 2 years old.
Previously released on bond, Hamdani said Kennedy is expected to surrender this afternoon pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with the assistance of the FBI.