Lexington man sentenced to 10 years for distribution of child pornography

A Lexington man was sentenced this week to 10 years in federal prison for distribution of child pornography.

Joshua Gilley, 23, who previously admitted to distributing child pornography images on the Internet, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. Chief District Judge Karen Caldwell.

Caldwell also ordered Gilley to serve a lifetime term of supervised release, and ordered that he register as a sex offender, following his release from prison. Under federal law, Gilley must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

Between 2012 and 2013, Gilley distributed numerous child pornography images to others, via email. Gilley admitted that a search warrant at his home revealed thousands of child pornography images, including more than 900 sexual abuse images of prepubescent children.

The case started when an FBI investigator noticed child pornography images being distributed online, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI later traced the source of those images to a computer that was operated by Gilley.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section, the Lexington police, and the Kentucky State Police’s Electronic Crime Branch. Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Marye prosecuted the case on behalf of the federal government.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Lexington man sentenced to 10 years for distribution of child pornography."