South Carolina Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Charge

DAVENPORT, Iowa – An Aiken, South Carolina man, Travis Lee McKie, age 41, was sentenced on Wednesday, December 22, 2021, by United States District Court Chief Judge John A. Jarvey to 325 months in prison for Production of Child Pornography. McKie was ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release to follow his prison term and pay $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund.

McKie was incarcerated at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina when he obtained a cellular phone and communicated with a minor victim located in the Southern District of Iowa. McKie persuaded and induced the victim to send sexually explicit images of themselves to McKie—oftentimes with derogatory remarks.

McKie came to law enforcement’s attention after receiving a Cybertip from Facebook regarding uploaded sexually explicit material depicting minors. Law enforcement obtained several search warrants that ultimately identified McKie as the suspect. Law enforcement then obtained a search warrant for McKie’s Google account, which revealed stored images depicting child pornography produced by the victim. McKie pleaded guilty to the offense on August 11, 2021.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. The United States Secret Service investigated the case. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, which was started in 2006 as a nation-wide effort to combine law enforcement investigations and prosecutions, community action, and public awareness in order to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children. Any persons having knowledge of a child being sexually abused are encouraged to call the Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline at 1-800-284-7821.