A 47-year-old Melbourne man was sentenced to 14 years behind bars for moderating a chat group that shared images and videos of children as young as 5 years old being sexually abused.
Robert Lee Ripley was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison by Middle District of Florida Judge Paul G. Byron this week after pleading guilty in February to distributing images of child sex abuse.
According to court documents, while Ripley was the moderator of a KIK chat group, he received and distributed photos and videos from other members of the group chat which showed child victims being sexually abused.
One of those members was a man who had produced images and videos depicting sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl. That girl was rescued on June 24, 2021 by Homeland Security Investigation Task Force officers.
That man distributed those images to Ripley, who subsequently shared them with other members of the chat group. During one instance, Ripley described one of the images as “Yummy,” according to chat transcripts obtained by the court.
In addition to 14 years in federal prison, Ripley will serve 10 years of supervised release and must pay $5,000 in restitution.