A West Point cadet was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in federal prison for trafficking in child pornography.
Ricky Hester, 25, of Granger, Indiana, who was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in August 2009, had been convicted of receipt, distribution and possession of child pornography on June 23 following a jury trial before U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti.
Prosecutors said that beginning at least as early as November 2012, Hester used a Yahoo email account, a file-sharing account on Dropbox.com and his personal cellphone to collect and share images of children being forced into sexual activity.
Hester's cellphone contained approximately 1,200 pornographic images and videos of children, they said. Homeland Security Investigations agents seized the phone Dec. 18, 2013, in Hester's dorm room.
Hester admitted that day that he had used his Yahoo email account to send child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bharara said in a news release. Hester told the agents that his preference was boys as young as 4 and that he had used Dropbox to trade child pornography with others, the prosecutor said.
The trial evidence also included approximately 100 emails sent or received by Hester requesting such videos and images, Bharara said in the release.
Hester entered West Point as a cadet in August 2009 and took a sabbatical from West Point from August 2011 through August 2012. At the time of his arrest, on Dec. 19, 2013, Hester was one semester away from graduation.
Hester also had helped supervise a local Sunday school program. He was indicted in June 2014. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Briccetti said during sentencing that the "evidence of guilt was overwhelming," and the images that Hester possessed and traded depicted "the torture of children," Bharara said.
Hester became the second West Point cadet in recent years to be charged in connection with child pornography.
Michael J. Martin was sentenced in 2008 to 30 months of confinement after pleading guilty to attempting to access child pornography and other military crimes, officials said.
West Point officials say they are taking steps to discharge Hester now that sentencing is concluded.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
