ORLANDO, Fla. – A U.S. district judge sentenced a 33-year-old Orlando man to 50 years in prison for producing, distributing and possession child pornography.
According to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice, Todd Engles initially pleaded guilty in September to all the charges against him.
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Evidence presented during the sentencing hearing showed that Engles posed online as a 15-year-old boy to get in contact with multiple girls between the age of 9 and 13 on social media.
Using his persona, he would persuade the girls to engage in sexual conduct via video chats and recordings, according to court documents.
Evidence also showed that Engles participated in online chat rooms dedicated to sharing child pornography. In these chat rooms, he distributed videos and images of children, as young as infants, being sexually abused, court records show.
Authorities said in a forensic review of his smartphone, they found over 455 images and 148 videos depicting the sexual abuse of infants, toddlers, children and teenagers.
In their statement, the DOJ said the case was brought as part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, an initiative started in 2006 designed to find, arrest and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children.