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The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky has announced that a Hardin County man has been sentenced at U.S. District Court in Louisville to 40 years in prison for child pornography offenses.

According to court documents, Michael Smith, 30, produced videos of his sexual abuse of a minor victim in Hardin County and uploaded images and videos of child pornography to a cloud-based storage application via the internet. In addition to his 40-year sentence, when his prison term ends, Smith will also have 20 years of supervised release for producing, transporting, and possessing child pornography. There is no parole in the federal system.

Smith must also pay $6,000 in restitution to his victims.

“I commend the FBI and LMPD for their investigation of this case as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Spencer McKiness for his work prosecuting Smith,” said U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett.  “The sexual exploitation of children in the Western District of Kentucky is a top priority of this office.  We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who harm our children.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigations was the lead agency in handling the matter, along with assistance from the Louisville Metro Police Department.

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 combines federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims.