East Tennessee Couple Sentenced To 15 Years For Sexual Exploitation Of A Child

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - On October 29, 2026, Darrison Randall Hood, 21, of Wartburn TN and Keirsten Armanda Grace Hooper, 24, of Sunbright, TN, were each sentenced to 180 months imprisonment by the Honorable Katherine A. Crytzer, United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville. Following their imprisonment, Hood and Hooper will both be on supervised release for 10 years and they will have to comply with the Sex Offender Registry requirements.

As part of the plea agreements filed with the court, Hood and Hooper, who were charged in the same indictment, both agreed to plead guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a)(e).

According to filed court documents, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Ninth Judicial District Task Force (9th JDTF), and the Morgan County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) investigated a report by a minor female victim who had received a video over Snapchat from an unknown account. The video was of the minor female victim in an intoxicated state being sexually assaulted by Hood and Hooper. Hooper was seen sexually assaulting the minor victim with a semi-automatic handgun. The video further depicted Hood as the perpetrator recording the assault. Investigators executed a search warrant of Hood's residence, and located the handgun used in the assault. Hood admitted to investigators to owning the firearm, producing the Snapchat video, and to distributing the video to the minor female victim, but stated he had since deleted the video.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Special Agent in Charge Terrence G. Riley, of the Nashville Field Office, made the announcement.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by FBI Knoxville Resident Agency, the 9th JDTF, and the MCSO. This investigation was led by FBI Task Force Officer Cortney Dugger.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Kolman represented the United States.

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 the tab "resources."

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