According to the Miami Herald: Patrick Killen, 25, was back in court this week receiving a new sentence for his past 139-year (from U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore) sentence for a wide variety of Internet child pornography-related offenses. After the re-sentencing, Killen had his sentence reduced to 50 years in a Federal prison from U.S. District Judge Robert Scola even though Moore called the defendant a "serial abuser of multiple victims."
Killen's crimes were dastardly. He posed as a teenaged high-school cheerleader to seduce young boys into sending him naked pictures. Supposedly his victim count totaled over 300 boys. After the victims sent him the pornographic and personal materials, Killen would package and redistribute the child pornography through a variety of electronic sources. And, to make it worse, Killen would then coerce the victims to continue sending him material by threatening to release previously obtained pornographic material over various social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and others. Law Enforcement Agencies in Florida now call this crime "Sextortion," and it is a growing problem.
Even though Killen's crimes were dastardly, terrible, and horrific, his Romanian mother, Karen, stated:
"I cannot begin to tell you the anger I feel for the way this case was handled and for the United States government destroying our son and our lives" - Karen Killen in a letter written to Judge Scola