ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Brooke Sparks, 38, St. Petersburg, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for producing child sex abuse material.
The court also ordered Sparks to serve 15 years of supervised release after her prison term and to register as a sex offender for life. Sparks pleaded guilty on January 30, 2023.
According to court documents, in April 2021, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received a tip from the Australian Federal Police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Sparks was sharing child sexual abuse material via Facebook.
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A federal search warrant was executed on Sparks’s home on April 28, 2021, and investigators discovered text messages between Sparks and an Australian man discussing sexually abusing a three-year-old child.
Sparks’s cellphone also revealed that Sparks had produced videos of child sexual abuse material of a nine-year-old child and shared them with the Australian man. The investigation further revealed that Sparks had used multiple platforms to send and receive images and videos of child sexual abuse material.
“The internet and social media have made it easier for predators to exploit children and disseminate their abuse around the world,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa Assistant Special Agent in Charge Kristopher Pagitt. “Thanks to the support of the Australian Federal Police and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we were able to stop her from continuing to create and share child sexual abuse material.”
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa, with substantial assistance from St. Petersburg Police Department and the Australian Federal Police. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Claire Favorit.
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