KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville man admitted to producing child pornography over the period of more than a decade and will spend the next 25 years of his life in prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced Friday Judge Thomas Varlan sentenced Eugene Charles McGrath, 55, to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the charge of using a minor to produce depictions of sexually explicit content.
Once his time is served, McGrath will spend the rest of his life on supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender with special conditions.
According to court documents, McGrath produced pornography of at least two children under the age of 10 between 2006 and 2020. The court said one of the videos had been distributed across the world. Investigators also found him in possession of 103 images and 11 videos of other child pornography.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Unit investigated the case.
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.”