Bowling Green, KY - A federal grand jury in Bowling Green, Kentucky, returned an indictment on May 10, 2023, charging Robert Blake Merryman with producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen of the Louisville Field Office made the announcement.
According to the indictment, on April 6, 2023, in Taylor County, Kentucky, Merryman used a minor male under 2 years of age to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, and the visual depiction was transmitted in interstate commerce by computer.
If convicted, Merryman faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. There is no parole in the federal system.
The FBI is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Sewell, of the U.S. Attorney’s Bowling Green Branch Office, is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood 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 Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources."
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys