Woman Sentenced to 21+ Years in Prison for Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A Charlotte woman was sentenced yesterday to 262 months in prison for producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Aisha Khan, 40, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release.

"It is unfathomable to me how someone can do things like this to a child," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. "I am proud of my office for standing up for defenseless children who cannot stand up for themselves."

According to court records, in 2023, HSI began an investigation into Khan after discovering evidence the defendant had produced CSAM of a minor female. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that, between October and December 2021, Khan had produced multiple images and videos depicting a prepubescent minor victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct. After producing the CSAM, Khan distributed it to another individual.

On February 25, 2025, Khan pleaded guilty to production of child pornography. She is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson credited Homeland Security Investigations in Charlotte and Wilmington for their investigation of the case, and thanked the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Agency in Wilmington, and the Jacksonville Police Department for their assistance.

Assistant United States Attorneys Nick J. Miller and Sara Kinlaw of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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 about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.