Cobb County man sentenced to 20 years in prison for producing child porn while posing as teenager

WSBTV.com News Staff
·3 min read
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced a Cobb man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

Officials said Billy Calhoun, 32 of Acworth, pretended to be a teenage boy, then convinced multiple minor girls he met online to send him sexually explicit videos and images.

The Department of Justice said an investigation into Calhoun started in 2020, after the Cobb County Police Department got a call from a middle school, alleging a teenage student was being exploited.

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U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said it came out in court that Calhoun had brought lunch to a 14-year-old girl at the school.

The student told school administrators that he was her boyfriend’s uncle and said she had a 16-year-old boyfriend named “Zack,” whom she’d met on Instagram months earlier, according to USDOJ.

Investigators said she’d never actually met or seen Zack, but that she had sent him nude photos using a cell phone, and that she had received gifts from him including a phone and two laptops.

“Several weeks after initially speaking with the 14-year-old girl,” CCPD found out Calhoun tried to pick her up from school without her mother’s permission and he was arrested on state charges.

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“Our detectives work tirelessly to make sure the most vulnerable are given a voice and those who would do them harm are brought to justice,” Cobb County Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said.  “We are proud of our working relationship with our local and federal partners to ensure the full weight of the justice system is brought to bear on those who would victimize our communities’ children.”

Justice Department officials said that Calhoun admitted to being the 16-year-old Zack during a post-arrest interview with detectives from CCPD.

Calhoun told them he pretended to be 16 after learning the girl was 14 years old, and that he’d received sexually explicit videos from her.

Police served several search warrants on his cell phones and at his home. FBI agents later identified three other minor girls who Calhoun had met online and who had sent him sexually explicit videos and photos.

The investigation also revealed Calhoun had “hundreds of other images and videos of child pornography,” if not more.

On March 17, Calhoun pled guilty to one count of producing child pornography and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.

“Calhoun took advantage of the anonymity the Internet provides to target and victimize young girls,” Buchanan said. “While social media can provide a forum for young people to safely connect with family and friends, this case should serve as a reminder to parents that vigilance of their children’s online activity is critical.”

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