South Carolina Man Gets 30 Years For Coercing Porn From Colorado Girls

DENVER, Colo. (CBS4) - A South Carolina man was sentenced last week to 30 years in prison for contacting and coercing teenage girls from Colorado.

Christopher George White, 38, of McCormick, South Carolina, was sentenced by a U.S. District Court Judge in Denver.

Following his term in prison, White will receive supervision for the rest of his life, according to a news release from the United State Attorney's Office in Denver.

Prosecutors say he targeted 13- and 14-year-old victims for five weeks in the summer of 2014 using fake Facebook profiles to establish contact. He eventually furthered his correspondence with six Colorado girls via text, social media, and phone calls.

"White claimed to be a teenage boy while he was truly a 35-year-old man and previously convicted sex offender," states the release. White used the names "Kent Noelle" and "Glenn Black" in his fake profiles.

"After first befriending them online," the release states, "and then texting and even talking with the minors by phone, the defendant then began to use harassment, threats of physical harm, and threats to post sexually-explicit photographs of the children or their friends on social media, all in an effort to coerce the teenagers to produce and send him child pornography of themselves."

White's arrest did not end his behavior. After pleading guilty, but before sentencing, White continued to contact other minor girls from prison. He also used another inmate's phone privileges to access the girls when his own were curtailed.

"This child exploitation case is an example of HSI's commitment, in partnership with the Department of Justice, to track, investigate and prosecute child predators to the fullest extent of the law," said John Eisert, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Denver. "HSI has an active and ongoing Operation Predator program to identify criminals who prey on children. Operation Predator helps make our communities safer by bringing criminals to justice for their despicable exploitation of our children."

This case was investigated by HSI and the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, as well as the Oconee County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina.

Authorities credited Project Safe Child, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the DOJ, for bringing White's case to court.