WARNING: The following story contains descriptions of sexual abuse with a minor
A former U.S. paramedic was sentenced to 70 years in federal prison for recording a series of videos of himself sexually abusing a one-year-old infant and posting them to the dark web.
James Lockhart, 31, received the maximum sentence for making, distributing and having child pornography last week, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
According to court records, he made a series of “sexually violent” videos of sexual abuse between March 2016 and February 2018, and then uploaded them to dark web forums while using the monikers "Strangewood" and "Hardwood."
In the forums, he also bragged about sexually abusing another one-year-old child. Authorities said he was attempting to “gain notoriety in the forum and elsewhere.”
The dark web is a term referring to websites found on encrypted networks that can’t be found via traditional search engines or internet browsers.
In October 2018, Homeland Security agents executed a search warrant on Lockharts’s house, The Miami Herald reported at the time.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that when authorities raided the home, they found 43 videos and at least 4,000 images of child pornography on his devices. Some of the material “included infants and sadomasochistic and violent conduct.”
“This deviant committed the most horrible atrocities imaginable to a one-year-old child,” said Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Tampa assistant special agent Michael B. Cochran in a statement. “HSI’s national and international partnerships have helped ensure that this predator will never again harm a child.”
According to the same statement, the case received assistance from the Australian government and authorities there.
Lockhart pleaded guilty to his charges in March.
