Georgia man convicted of distributing child sex abuse material | Plus | #childpredator | #kidsaftey | #childsaftey

“By cutting his ankle monitor prior to trial, Snow attempted to evade justice for actively distributing and possessing child sexual abuse material involving young children; he’s lost his freedom and will no longer be able to hurt innocent and vulnerable kids in this way,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a news release. “It often takes many different groups to stop a child predator, as demonstrated in this case. I am thankful for the excellent collaboration at every level to protect children.”

“This conviction serves as a strong reminder of our commitment to protecting children from the atrocities of child sexual abuse,” GBI Director Mike Register said. “The GBI remains resolute in its pursuit of justice and will not tolerate those who exploit the innocence of our most vulnerable population.”

“Snow not only distributed the disturbing material for years but didn’t stop even after he was under arrest and facing trial,” Keri Farley, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, said. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that people like this receive their full measure of justice.”

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, GBI received a Cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in August 2018 that a Facebook user distributed suspected CSAM via Facebook Messenger. As a part of their investigation, GBI was able to determine that the user of that Facebook account resided in Carlton. A search warrant was executed at Snow’s residence in Carlton; law enforcement seized several electronic devices that Snow kept in a padlocked room.

A digital forensic examiner later determined that those electronic devices, including the phone that was found on Snow the day of the search warrant, contained at least 45 images and 17 videos of CSAM. The material contained images of children under the age of 12.

As a condition of Snow’s pretrial release, he was required to wear an ankle monitor and not have access to electronic devices. On June 1, GBI received an additional Cybertip indicating that Snow may have been continuing to distribute CSAM on the Kik messenger app in 2022, while awaiting trial. Snow was scheduled for a federal hearing on June 2 prior to his trial but cut off his ankle monitor on June 1. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest, and he was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals on June 5.

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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the GBI, with assistance from the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alex Kalim and Robert McCullers are prosecuting the case for the government.