KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On September 25, 2024, following a-three-day trial in United States District Court at Knoxville, a federal jury convicted Christopher Edward Allen, 34, of Kingston, TN, of nine counts involving child pornography and attempting to entice minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity.  Specifically, Allen was convicted of three counts of attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity, one count of producing child pornography, two counts of attempting to produce child pornography, two counts of transporting a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and one count of transferring obscene material.

Sentencing is set for February 6, 2025, at 2:00 pm, in front of the Honorable Judge Thomas A. Varlan, United States District Judge, United States District Court at Knoxville. Allen faces a sentence of up to life in prison.

The evidence presented at trial showed that, among other things, Allen used various social media platforms to identify minors online.  Once Allen identified the minors, he enticed them over social media and texting apps to engage in unlawful sexual activity and to send nude images of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  In two instances, Allen paid the minors for nude images of themselves, which Allen later emailed to himself using the minor’s name as the subject line of the emails.  Allen also sent sexually explicit images of himself to minors using social media.  In at least one instance, Allen met a minor in person at the restaurant where Allen worked.  Allen added the minor to one of his social media accounts.  Later that night, Allen communicated with the minor over social media.  Law enforcement learned of those messages and, with consent from the minor’s parents, assumed the minor’s identity on social media two days later.  That same day, Allen was arrested at a park in Kingston, TN, after arriving with the intent to meet the minor.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud made the announcement.

HSI and the Tennessee’s Ninth Judicial District Attorney General’s Office investigated the case that led to the indictment and subsequent conviction of Allen.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Kolman and William A. Roach, Jr., represented the United States at trial.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about PSC, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab “resources.”