Covington Man Sentenced for Sending Child Sexual Abuse Material via Internet

COVINGTON, Ky. - A Covington man, Nicholas Esteban Starry, 31, was sentenced on Tuesday to 168 months by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning for transportation of child pornography.

In May 2024, law enforcement received two CyberTipline reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that originated from X and Google identifying accounts linked to Starry that had posted and uploaded child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Further investigation confirmed Starry's use of the accounts, and a search warrant for Starry's Google account revealed seven files, six of which were child sexual abuse material. Following a search of his residence, Starry was arrested and interviewed and admitted viewing child pornography using the same accounts referenced in the CyberTip; a forensic analysis of his phone revealed additional evidence of child sexual abuse material.

Jason Parman, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Leonhard prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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