Jace Faugno, 25, of Paducah, Kentucky, has been sentenced to 78 months in prison for two counts of distributing child pornography. Chief United States District Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel handed down the sentence, which includes 5 years of supervised release.
Faugno first came to the attention of law enforcement in September 2018, when a joint undercover investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and the FBI caught him sending child pornography over Kik, a popular cell phone messaging application. At the time, Faugno was living in St. Louis, Missouri, and serving as an active duty Senior Airman at Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois.
During chat discussions with two different undercover agents, Faugno sent them each a video depicting a prepubescent girl being raped by an adult male. Faugno also solicited the agents to send him videos of child pornography and expressed an interest in meeting up with one agent to engage in sex acts with the undercover agent’s fictitious prepubescent daughter. Faugno ended his contact with the agents when they refused to provide him with videos of child pornography.
Faugno pled guilty to the charges in 2019. At his sentencing hearing, Faugno argued that his chats were merely a fantasy that he never intended to act upon. Judge Rosenstengel observed that while only Faugno was aware of his true intentions, “fantasy can turn into reality.”
The case was investigated by Air Force OSI and FBI Springfield and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Hoell.