MISSOULA—A former U.S. Air Force service member who admitted using the internet to coerce minor boys into sending him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves was sentenced today to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Raymond Larry Edward Kennedy, 24, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty in March to sexual exploitation of a child and to receipt of child pornography.

Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.

An investigation began in February 2017, the prosecution said in court records, when the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls contacted an agent with Homeland Security Investigations and member of the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force seeking help with an online child exploitation case involving Kennedy. The Air Force discharged Kennedy on Feb. 6, 2017.

Investigators found that Kennedy met on Snapchat a minor boy who lived in Montana and ultimately determined that Kennedy had met five other minor boys who all lived in Montana. In Kennedy’s online communications with the boys from about July 2015 through June 2017, he coerced them into sending him images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The boys were all younger than 18 and lived in Kalispell, Big Fork and Great Falls.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee Peterson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

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