A Fulton man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for receiving and distributing child pornography after his lost cellphone, which contained images of child pornography, was turned in to law enforcement.
Anthony Quin Hodges, 51, was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison without parole.
Hodges, who pleaded guilty in May, admitted he had been viewing child pornography from a variety of websites for approximately two to three years and storing the images on his Google Photos account. Hodges used his cellphone for searching, maintaining and distributing images of child pornography.
Two Fulton residents turned in the phone, which Hodges said had been lost or stolen, to the Fulton Police Department in January after they found it abandoned in their driveway. Prior to reporting the incident to law enforcement, the residents powered on the phone to try to identify the owner. That's when they discovered the images of child pornography. One of the residents also opened the Facebook app and observed a Facebook page for Hodges. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the phone and discovered pornographic images of prepubescent children as well as links to apparent child pornography websites.
Hodges also admitted to sending unsolicited images of child pornography to an individual. Investigators interviewed the individual who received the text message from Hodges, which contained child pornography. The individual reported he received pornographic images of prepubescent girls from Hodges on several occasions. He did not solicit these images and repeatedly told Hodges to stop sending him child pornography. The individual repeatedly warned Hodges it was illegal to possess child pornography.
Hodges already was under investigation at the time his cellphone was turned in to law enforcement. On Oct. 24, 2016, a Boone County Cyber Crimes Taskforce detective received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Google had filed a complaint about an account holder, later identified as Hodges, who uploaded images of child pornography to Google Photos. Shortly after Hodges was identified by law enforcement, his cellphone was turned in to the police department.