Former Alabama state attorney, Chase Tristian Espy, pleads guilty to child porn

An attorney who served as a member of Gov. Kay Ivey‘s administration entered a plea of guilty to a charge of child pornography and now faces up to 20 years in prison, federal authorities said on Tuesday.

According to officials, 36-year-old Chase Tristian Espy entered a plea of guilty to possessing child pornography, and the judge set the sentencing hearing for January 24.

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Espy, of Vestavia Hills, previously worked as deputy general counsel in the office of Ivey. He was only employed there a few months and was fired at the time of his arrest last August, officials said at the time.

Investigators seized Espy’s cellphone after he engaged in online chats with an investigator he believed to be a 15-year-old girl, authorities said in a statement. A search found multiple videos and several images portraying child sexual abuse, authorities said.

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“The hard work of the agents involved in this case reflect how local, state, and federal law enforcement are committed to protecting children from predators,” U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said. “Possessing child pornography is not a ‘victimless’ crime. Each time images of the innocent are shared or viewed, the child is re-victimized.”

“The FBI is committed to protecting our children from sexual abuse and exploitation, and we will continue to work with our partners to bring to justice those who would prey on our most vulnerable,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Felix A. Rivera-Esparra said. “I want to thank the members of the FBI Birmingham Child Exploitation & Human Trafficking Task Force and our partners for their outstanding work in this case.”

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The maximum sentence for having child pornography in one’s possession is 20 years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will ask the court to sentence Espy to a term of imprisonment that is at the high end of the advisory United States Sentencing Guideline range.

This investigation was conducted by the Homewood Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), and the FBI Birmingham Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force (CEHTTF). R. Leann White and Jonathan Cross are the case’s assistant US attorneys.

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The Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, a national programme to tackle the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, was the impetus for the case’s filing.

Project Safe Childhood, which is coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) of the Criminal Division, pools federal, state, and local resources to identify, arrest, and convict people who abuse children online as well as to identify and help victims.