Chattanooga Man Sentenced To 25 Years For Exploitation Of A Minor

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - On September 3, 2026, Michael Ray Buckley, 34, currently of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was sentenced to 300 months by the Honorable Charles E. Atchley, Jr., United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Following his imprisonment, he will be on supervised release for 20 years and he will be required to register with state sex offender registries and comply with special sex offender conditions during his supervised release.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Buckley agreed to plead guilty to an indictment charging him with one count of exploitation of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a) and (e).

According to court filed documents, Buckley admitted that through his Instagram account of "candy_cams," and other social media accounts using the internet, he solicited and recruited minor females to produce child pornography, paying the minors for produced images and videos through CashApp, and distributing child pornography to buyers online. To facilitate his communications with minor victims, Buckley falsely represented his identity, age (11-13), and gender. By exploiting these false identities, Buckley persuaded and induced the minor victims to create and transmit sexually explicit images of themselves. Buckley's conduct reflected a deliberate and sustained pattern of predatory behavior directed toward children, intended to manipulate and entice minor victims into engaging in sexually explicit conduct and producing sexually explicit images for his personal financial gain and sexual gratification of his clients.

U. S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III, of the Eastern District of Tennessee, Special Agent in Charge, Terrence G. Riley, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Nashville Field Office, and the Hamilton County District Attorney's Office made the announcement.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This investigation was led by FBI Chattanooga Resident Agency Special Agent Samuel K. Moore.

Special Assistant United States Attorney Charles D. Minor represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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 the United States Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC 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 PSC, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click the tab "resources."

###