FRANKFORT, United States – A Shelbyville, Ky., woman, previously convicted of photographing images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove sentenced Melissa Torres, 37, for enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct.
He also ordered her to serve a lifetime of supervised release following the completion of her sentence. Under federal law, Torres must serve at least 85 percent of her prison sentence.
Torres admitted that, on September 22, 2014, she coerced two children under the age of 10 to engage in sexually explicit conduct and took video of the encounter. She later distributed the video.
The Shelbyville Police Department began an investigation after someone found the child pornography images and notified the police.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Amy Hess, Special Agent in Charge, FBI; and Danny Goodwin, Shelbyville Police Chief, jointly made the announcement.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Shelbyville Police. Assistant U.S. David Marye prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
