Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A recidivist sex offender was sentenced to 120 months in prison yesterday for possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Registered sex offender Ricky Grover Aaron, 62, of Charlotte, a was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and pay restitution to his victims.
Robert M. DeWitt, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in North Carolina joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, the FBI was conducting an undercover online investigation to identify individuals sharing CSAM using peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Investigators determined that Aaron was utilizing a BitTorrent application to make CSAM available for others, and on multiple occasions, were able to download CSAM files from one or more of Aaron’s electronic devices.
In November 2022, a search warrant was executed at Aaron’s residence. Several electronic devices were seized and forensically examined. In total, investigators found that Aaron possessed the equivalent (when taking videos into account) of more than 300,000 CSAM images that depicted, among other things, minors including infants, toddlers, and children under the age of 12, being sexually abused and exploited, having violence inflicted upon them, appearing in bondage, and otherwise subjected to sado-masochistic conduct.
At the sentencing hearing, the Court also heard that Aaron failed to register as a sex offender in Mecklenburg County after he moved to North Carolina, as he was required to do because he had two convictions prior to this one, a federal conviction for receipt and possession of CSAM, and a state conviction for false imprisonment and aggravated exploitation of a minor in Tennessee. Under the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) convicted sex offenders are required to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board in any state or jurisdiction where they work or reside.
On October 29, 2024, Aaron pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained age 12. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson commended the FBI for their investigation of the case.
Assistant United States Attorney Katherine Armstrong of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.
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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Operation Restore Justice
This week, the FBI in North Carolina announced the results of Operation Restore Justice, following a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators. The operation resulted in the rescue of 115 children and the arrest of 205 child sexual abuse offenders in the nationwide crackdown. The enforcement action was executed over the course of five days by all 55 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) in the Department’s Criminal Division, and United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.
Among those arrested as part of Operation Restore Justice was a former Charlotte resident, Terrell Shawn Anderson, 30, who is charged in the Western District of North Carolina with distributing child sexual abuse material and possession of child sexual abuse material. Anderson was arrested in Atlanta and faces at least five years in federal prison and up to twenty years on each distribution count and up to twenty years on the possession count.
“We will aggressively prosecute these cases, as we do all cases against those who seek to exploit and abuse children,” said Russ Ferguson in the joint announcement made with the FBI. “The individuals charged and arrested in this operation are accused of engaging in conduct that harms children and perpetuates their abuse. I commend the FBI in North Carolina and the entire law enforcement community for their ongoing efforts to identify these perpetrators and bring them to justice so they cannot hurt another child.”
You can find additional information about the national Operation Restore Justice initiative here.
The charges against Anderson are allegations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.