A 39-year-old man has been ordered to federal prison following his conviction for sexual exploitation of a child, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

U.S. District Judge Claire V. Eagan sentenced Robert Patrick King, of Suffolk, Virginia, to 20 years in prison. Upon, release from prison, King is required to register as a sex offender.

This case was prosecuted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows for civilians accompanying the military outside the United States to be prosecuted for violations of federal law.

“Possession of child pornography is not a victimless crime. The United States Attorney’s Office will give voice to those child victims. And, with our law enforcement partners, we will hold accountable those who sexually exploit children,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “In this case, NCIS investigators partnered with Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Nassar to bring a child predator to justice. That’s a formidable team fighting for child victims. I am proud of the work they do daily to achieve justice.”

At a plea hearing, King admitted that in the summer of 2017, at a U.S. Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan, he took sexually explicit photographs of a 5-year-old child after coercing the child to take a bath at his home. At the time, King was the spouse of a U.S. Navy service member. Investigators also discovered similar photographs of other child victims taken in the United States, where he lived prior to his move to Japan.

King has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar prosecuted the case.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the United States Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  Internet safety education can be found on the tab labeled "resources” on the left column of the page.