Staff reports 5:36 a.m.
Friday, April 27, 2018 5:37 am

PORTLAND, Maine - A 38-year-old Sanford man was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison for transporting child porn.

Rusty Hood was also sentenced 10 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

Hood pleaded guilty on January 29, 2018.

According to court records, in May 2016, Hood chatted online with an individual in Ohio. During the chat, the two men exchanged images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hood claimed during the chat that he was interested in babies, and that he had engaged in sexual activity with a young girl.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Sanford Police Department.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.