Former Durham EMS worker sentenced to 18 years in prison for child exploitation offenses
APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- An Apex man has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing child sexual abuse material and one count related to the production of an animal crush video.
Court records show Andrew Childs possessed and distributed child sexual abuse material and produced a video depicting the sexual abuse of a dog.
At the time of his arrest, Childs worked for Durham Emergency Medical Services. Authorities said the crimes were not connected to his employment.
The case was investigated by the FBI Charlotte Field Office's Raleigh Resident Agency and the Durham Police Department, with assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Federal officials said the prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse and identifying victims.
Second cruise passenger accused of possessing child sex abuse content
Two South Florida men who were taken into custody at PortMiami after coming off a cruise are accused of having child sexual abuse content on their phones.
Steve Lawson, 45, and Michael Simmons, 40, were searched separately by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers after the Norwegian cruise docked on Friday.
The two have no apparent connection other than what authorities found on their phones.
Lawson, a well-known wedding photographer, is charged with possessing and transporting child sexual abuse material.
The criminal complaint says Lawson’s phone had 14 videos in an app on his phone, including an hour-long video showing a compilation of more than 100 underage girls performing sexual acts.
The complaint states Lawson admitted to buying the video using cryptocurrency while on the cruise because he was “enticed to do so after he observed female minors in bikinis on the cruise.”
"We recognize the serious nature of the charges and are committed to working diligently through the legal process to achieve a fair and just resolution of this case," his attorneys from Lawson & Simmons, PLLC said in the statement.
Meanwhile, federal documents detail a separate case involving Simmons, who is accused of having videos of underage girls showering between the ages of 9 and 11, who were friends of his daughter.
Documents also show that Simmons admitted to recording the videos himself back in 2014.
He is now facing production of child sexual abuse material. NBC6 is awaiting a response from his attorney.
Both men are in federal custody, with their arraignments set for Aug. 10.
Ky. inmate gets 28 years for producing child sexual abuse material from jail
Prosecutors said Daniel Hoskins used the jail’s monitored communications system to coerce a victim into creating explicit images while incarcerated
Madison County Detention Center/Facebook
By Christopher Leach
Lexington Herald-Leader
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky man will spend years in federal prison for producing child pornography while incarcerated, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Daniel Hoskins, 56, was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Thursday, July 23, after pleading guilty to two counts of production of child pornography. The attorney’s office said he used the Madison County jail’s call system to produce child porn from a victim who he knew before his incarceration.
Court documents say the victim ran away from a foster home on June 7, 2024, to be with Hoskins. The victim and Hoskins met a few weeks prior during a camping trip and started a relationship that was believed to be initiated by Hoskins.
The victim was entered into the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children seven days after she ran away.
On April 26, 2025, someone spotted Hoskins and the victim kissing in Hoskins’ vehicle in the Richmond Mall parking lot and called police. Court documents say Hoskins was arrested after investigators found sexually explicit images of the victim on his phone.
Hoskins was charged with possession of a matter of sexual performance by a minor between 12 and 18 years old and tampering with evidence in Madison District Court . He was booked into the Madison County Detention Center.
Court documents say inmates at the Madison County jail have the ability to make phone and video calls through the jail’s call system. Hoskins communicated with the victim on a daily basis through phone calls, video calls and text messages and asked the victim to provide sexually explicit images several times.
Calls on the jail’s video call system are not private and are monitored and/or recorded, according to court documents. His access to the call system was revoked after jail officials discovered his activity, but he continued communicating with the victim through other inmates’ accounts.
Hoskins pleaded guilty to the federal production of child pornography charges April 20. His Madison District Court case remains ongoing with a status hearing scheduled for Sept. 3, according to court records.
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