Brantley County man pleads to distributing child pornography

Michael Hall, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·2 min read
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Feb. 22—A Brantley County man admitted this week that he distributed child pornography on the internet and now faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Gary Kreitzman, 35, of Nahunta, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court's Southern District of Georgia to the distribution of child pornography. The plea subjects him to a minimum of five years in prison and up to 20 years. He also faces substantial financial penalties and restitution to victims, a requirement to register as a sex offender, and between five years and the rest of his life on supervised release, a release from the U.S. Attorney's office said.

There is no parole in the federal prison system, so Kreitzman will serve every day of his sentence, which will be decided at a later date in front of U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood following a pre- sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services.

"Protection of our most vulnerable citizens is vitally important," said David Estes, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. "The vigilance of our law enforcement partners helps ensure our communities are protected from predators like Kreitzman."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prompted the investigation after it alerted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in June 2020 that it had detected images of child sexual exploitation uploaded through an online chat application, the release said. The GBI, along with the Brantley County Sheriff's Office, determined the images were uploaded through an account owned by Kreitzman.

A September 2020 search of his residence found multiple electronic devices containing images of child sexual activity. Kreitzman admitted to sharing those images via the internet, the release said.

Kreitzman was then indicted federally and arrested in September 2022 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office.

"The GBI will continue to work tirelessly to protect innocent victims of online exploitation," said Michael Register, Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. "We are grateful for the partnerships we maintain with our state and federal agencies to bring these predators to justice."

Keri Farley, FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta office, said criminals like Kreitzman seek to prey on the most vulnerable populations.

"The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to victimize children and prosecute those predators to the fullest extent of the law," Farley said.

Anyone with information on suspected child sexual exploitation can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678, or https://report.cybertip.org/.

The case was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, the Brantley County Sheriff's Office, and the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney and Project Safe Childhood Coordinator Tara M. Lyons.