St. Augustine Sex Offender Charged With Solicitation Of Child Pornography Over The Internet

Jacksonville, Florida – Kenneth Brian Hanger (46, St. Augustine) has been arrested and charged by a federal criminal complaint with soliciting child pornography using the internet. In 1994, Hanger was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in Bradford County, Pennsylvania and is required to register as a sexual offender. Because of his prior sex offense conviction, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 25 years, and up to 50 years, in federal prison, and a potential life term of supervision. Hanger is currently being detained pending his detention hearing on July 6, 2018. 

According to the criminal complaint, on May 22, 2018, a detective with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (SJSO) reviewed sexual offender registration information provided to the SJSO by Hanger, in which Hanger disclosed his use of a Facebook account that did not list his true name. Posing as a minor child, the detective sent a “friend request” to this account and Hanger accepted this request and made online contact with the “child.” Between May 24, 2018 and June 5, 2018, Hanger and the “child” engaged in online conversations on several occasions using a texting application. Hanger was advised and acknowledged that the “child” was only 13 years old. 

On June 1, 2018, Hanger raised the topic of sexual activity between himself and the “child” and suggested that he and the “child” meet to engage in sex. On June 4, 2018, Hanger and the “child” again discussed meeting for sex, and Hanger sent the “child” a photo of his penis. Later that same day, Hanger solicited the “child” to produce and send him a graphic video depicting “her” genitalia. Two days later, SJSO detectives arrested Hanger at his residence in St. Augustine. During an interview, Hanger admitted that he had engaged in online conversations with the 13 year old “child,” that he had sent “her” a photo of his own genitalia, and that he had stated his intentions to engage in sex.      

This case was investigated by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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 United States Attorney’s 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."