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Florida man who raped his crying one-year-old daughter and uploaded videos on dark web sentenced to 70 years

James Lockhart, 31, was convicted of producing, distributing and possessing child pornography between March 2016 and February 2018
UPDATED DEC 7, 2019

The Florida man who was accused of raping his infant daughter and posting videos of the horrific abuse on the dark web has been sentenced to 70 years for his crime.

James Lockhart, 31, was convicted of producing, distributing and possessing child pornography between March 2016 and February 2018 and received the maximum sentence in July this year for his crime, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

In addition, the perpetrator, who had pleaded guilty to the charges against him in March, also signed a plea agreement under which he was obligated to help the Department of Homeland Security with apprehending pedophiles on the dark web and testify against them in the court. 

The identity of the infant depicted in the videos produced by Lockhart was confirmed to be his daughter by his wife and the mother of their two children, Newsweek reported. 

A press release from the Department of Justice stated that Lockhart, who worked as a licensed paramedic at Paramedics Logistics Florida from 2012 to October 2018, made a four-video series of himself having sex with his one-year-old child. He then uploaded the sexually explicit content on a dark web forum using the screen names “StrangeWood” and “HardWood."

Authorities said that Lockhart also bragged about sexually abusing another one-year-old child, took suggestions of sexually explicit content from the dark web users and assured them that the four-video series was not the end of his creative abilities. 

Lockhart's “sadomasochistic and violent conduct" extended beyond the abuse of just his own child, he also produced videos of the infant getting sexually abused by others while in his care.

The police obtained devices containing 43 videos and at least 4,000 images of child pornography following a search of the perpetrator's residence. The collection included pornographic material on infants other than his own daughter. 

“This deviant committed the most horrible atrocities imaginable to a one-year-old child,” said Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Cochran. “HSI’s national and international partnerships have helped ensure that this predator will never again harm a child.”

The Queensland Police Service, Commonwealth of Australia, assisted the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (Boston and Tampa) in building up a case against Lockhart. 

"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 United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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," the press release stated.

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