Kingston Man Convicted Following Trial On Multiple Child Sex Crimes
Monday, September 30, 2024, 7:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
KNOXVILLE, TN.- On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, following a three-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. A federal jury found Christopher Edward Allen, 34, of Kingston, Tennessee, guilty of multiple counts of sex crimes involving the enticement of minors for unlawful sexual activity.
Allen Convicted On Charges
On Wednesday, the jury returned guilty verdicts on three counts of Attempting to Entice a Minor to Engage in Unlawful Sexual Activity; one count of Production of Child Pornography; two counts of Attempted Production of Child Pornography; two counts of Transporting a Visual Depiction of a Minor Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct; and one count of Transferring Obscene Material.
Following the guilty verdicts, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas A. Varlan accepted them and filed them with the court. Judge Varlan scheduled sentencing for 2:00 p.m. on February 6, 2025. At that time, Allen faces a potential sentence of up to life in federal prison.
According To Evidence Presented At Trial
According to U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton, III, and evidence presented at trial, Allen used multiple social media platforms to identify minors online. Once identified, Allen enticed them over social media and texting applications to engage in unlawful sexual activity and send nude digital images of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
In two instances, Allen paid the young teens for the nude images of themselves, which Allen then emailed them to himself using the minor’s name as the subject line of the emails.
Allen also sent sexually explicit digital images of himself to minors using social media. In at least one identified instance, Allen met one of the minors in person at the restaurant he was employed at. Allen added the minor to one of his social media accounts. Later that evening, Allen communicated with the minor over social media.
Law enforcement officials learned of those messages and, with the consent of the minor’s parents, assumed the minor’s identity on social media two days later. Later that same day, Allen was taken into custody in Kingston, Tennessee, after arriving at a predetermined location where he thought he was going to meet the teen.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
