ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A previously convicted sex offender who served as the administrator of an online chatroom dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was sentenced to 188 months in prison today for distributing child pornography, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed, Nicholas Tyler Banks, 24, of Burnsville, N.C., was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, to register as a sex offender, and to pay $26,000 in restitution.
Chief Daniel Duckworth of the Boone Police Department joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, beginning in September 2023, a Boone Police Department detective was conducting an undercover investigation into the sexual exploitation of children online. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that Banks was using a commonly available chat application to share images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children in a chatroom dedicated to sharing CSAM. All the files shared by Banks were made available for all users of the chatroom to view, download, and further distribute. The CSAM files depicted prepubescent children engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults and some of the videos depicted sadomasochistic conduct. The investigation further revealed that Banks served as the administrator of the chat group, and in that role, he was in charge of adding new members to the group.
In January 2024, a search warrant was executed at Banks’s residence. Several electronic devices were seized and forensically examined. In total, investigators found that Banks possessed the equivalent (when taking videos into account) of more than 47,700 CSAM images. Investigators also determined that Banks continued to collect and share additional CSAM even after the search warrant was executed.
Banks was previously convicted of the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in Sullivan County, in Tennessee, and as a result of that conviction he was a registered sex offender.
On January 27, 2025, Banks pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography with a qualifying prior conviction. He 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 commended the Boone Police Department for their investigation of the case.
Assistant United States Attorney Alexis Solheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville 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.
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