Former Kentucky deputy sentenced to 25 years for soliciting explicit photos from girl
A former Bath County deputy sheriff was sentenced Monday to 25 years in federal prison in a child pornography case.
Joshua Preece, 40, of Morehead, pleaded guilty to a charge of soliciting a minor girl to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing images.
The case started after Preece, who was a deputy at the time, answered a call about a domestic dispute between a mother and her teen daughter in November 2018, according to court records.
Preece offered to drive the daughter to a friend’s house. The girl later told police that on the way, Preece stopped at a barn, touched her and had her touch him, according to court records.
Preece later got the girl to send him nude images of herself.
Police later found multiple sexually explicit images on Preece’s phone, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV.
Shier said Preece’s crime was abhorrent, but the fact that he was a law-enforcement officer made it worse.
“He abused a vulnerable victim, while also betraying a public trust and doing enduring disservice to the dedicated efforts of all law enforcement,” Shier said in a release.
Preece was a security guard at one point at Morehead State University, then worked as a trooper for the Kentucky State Police from 2004 to 2013 before becoming a deputy sheriff, according to a court document.
U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced Preece in Lexington. He will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.
The U.S. Secret Service and state police investigated.
Preece also faced rape, sexual abuse and other charges in Bath County, but they were dismissed because of his federal conviction.
