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A Lexington man pleaded guilty to the production and possession of child pornography on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew Stinnett at U.S. District Court in Lexington.

The U.S Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Kentucky says Kevin Daniel Lentz, 49, a former Fayette County high school teacher, admitted in his plea agreement that he began an online conversation with the 9-year-old victim, on March 19, 2023. Within minutes, Lentz sent the victim 85 images or videos of adult pornography, including sexually explicit images and videos of Lentz.

Lentz also persuaded the victim to create and send multiple sexually explicit videos and images of himself to Lentz via the internet. Lentz acknowledged that, at the time, he knew the victim was a minor.

A search warrant was executed at Lentz’s residence in Lexington on August 8, and resulted in the seizure of numerous electronic devices, including a computer, a cellular phone and multiple hard drives. A search of these devices revealed several hundred additional images and videos of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct that Lentz obtained from the internet.

Lentz has not yet had his sentencing date scheduled. He faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on for production of child pornography, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for possession of child pornography. However, any sentence will be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and Lexington Police, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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 on Project Safe Childhood, go to https://www.justice.gov/psc.