West Point Cadet Sentenced to 8 Years in Jail for Child Porn

A former West Point Cadet convicted of child porn charges was sentenced Wednesday to 8 years in prison.

Ricky Patrick Hester, 25, of Indiana, was one month away from graduation at the United States Military Academy at West Point when he was arrested on December 19, 2013. According to evidence from the trial, from at least as early as November 2012, Hester used a Yahoo! email account, a file-sharing account on Dropbox.com, as well as his cellphone, to collect and share images of children being forced into sexual activity.

During a search warrant of Hester’s West Point dorm room his cellphone was seized. The phone contained approximately 1,200 images and videos of children engaging in sexual activity. Prosecutors say Hester sent or received 100 child porn related emails. In many of the emails, he requested videos and images of “kids being forced to do stuff,” “boys being tied up and peed on,” and “man boy hardcore.” In numerous emails, he indicated a preference for boys aged four to 10 years old.

Following a conviction in June, Judge Vincent Briccetti sentenced Hester Wednesday to 97 months in prison. Before the sentencing, Judge Briccetti said the, “evidence of guilt was overwhelming,” and that the images that Hester possessed and traded depicted “the torture of children.”