Beshear: Scott County man sentenced to 13 years in prison for child pornography

FRANKFORT, KY. (WTVQ) – Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Cyber Crimes Unit have announced a Scott County man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for possessing child pornography.

45-year-old Chad Rickman, of Georgetown, was sentenced in Scott Circuit Court, July 2 following his arrest in May 2017 by Attorney General Andy Beshear’s cyber investigators. Investigators charged Rickman with 100 counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, Class D felonies.

After executing a search warrant of Rickman’s home investigators found Rickman in possession of external drives that contained hundreds of images and videos depicting children engaged in sexual performances.

Cyber-crime investigators also uncovered evidence that Rickman tried to cover up his crimes by renting computers from a store, using them to possess and distribute child pornography and then returning the devices.

The work of the Cyber Crimes Unit, a division of the Department of Criminal Investigations in the Office of the Attorney General, is part of Beshear’s core mission to keep sexual predators away from Kentucky families and children.

When it comes to arresting child predators, the office has reached historic levels with more arrest than ever before.

To help combat child abuse the office awarded more than $400,000 in statewide and regional grant funding to organizations that help protect Kentucky children. In seeking justice for the smallest of victims, the office provided funds to cover the cost of more than 15,664 child sexual abuse medical exams, totaling $117,480.

Funding to protect Kentucky children from sexual abuse is obtained from donations made to the office’s Child Victims’ Trust Fund.