Columbia Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Enticement of a Minor and Child Pornography Offenses

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A Columbia, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for attempted enticement of a minor and advertising child pornography

Ryan Edward Hine, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 30 years in federal prison without parole to be followed by 20 years supervised release for enticing a minor to produce child pornography and for advertising child pornography to other individuals over the internet.

According to court documents, Hine began texting with a 15-year-old female in in July 2018. Hine regularly requested her to produce and send him sexually explicit images and videos. Hine traveled across state lines on a monthly basis in 2019 to engage in sexual acts with the child victim, which he recorded with his cell phone to produce videos of child sexual abuse. This continued until 2020.

Hine, posing as a minor female, continued to recruit minor victims to produce Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Hine then posed as the minor female and advertised the CSAM for sale to adult buyers over the internet.

Hine will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley S. Turner. It was investigated by HSI New Jersey, Special Agent in Charge Michael S. McCarthy and HSI Kansas City, Acting Special Agent in Charge Richard Sabatini.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was 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 the United States Attorneys' 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."