A Virginia man was sentenced Friday in the Eastern District of Virginia to 19 years in prison for the production and distribution of child pornography.
Kevin Hewlett, 36, of Bluemont, was convicted by a federal jury on Oct. 8, 2020, of producing and distributing child pornography.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Hewlett was a farrier, a craftsman who trims and shoes horses’ hooves. He was hired to be the farrier to a minor girl’s horses. Hewlett began communicating with the minor regularly through text messages and social media applications.
Then in August 2018, Hewlett recorded himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the minor in his bedroom. A few months later, in January 2019, Hewlett sent the minor the recording.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh of the Eastern District of Virginia and Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement.
This case was investigated by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Taskforce, which is composed of FBI agents along with local, state, and federal partners.
Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Smith III of the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.
This 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.
Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.