Austin Lee Gladd, 26, of Russell Springs, Ky., was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Friday, by Chief U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves, after previously pleading guilty to production of child pornography.

According to Gladd’s guilty plea agreement, he admitted to using social media to entice a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct; to traveling to Danville, Ky., where the victim was located, to engage in sexual intercourse with the minor victim; and to capturing multiple videos of the sexual encounter with his smartphone.   

Gladd pleaded guilty in April 2023.

Under federal law, Gladd must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.  Upon his release from prison, Gladd will be required to register as a sex offender and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent, FBI, Louisville Field Office; and Chief Tony Gray of the Danville Police Department jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Danville Police Department.  The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Mary Melton. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov