Man sentenced to 65 years in prison for sexually abusing 100 children

American James Patrick Burns was sentenced to 65 years in prison for sexually exploiting several minors and promoting and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) that he forced the minors to produce..

His sentence will be followed by life probation.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced this in a statement published on its website on Friday, July 19.

On March 5, a federal court jury convicted Burns of eight counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, eight counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, and one count each of advertising, receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography.

The Justice Department stated that Burns was already a registered sex offender at the time of these offenses and that the jury also found him guilty of committing certain offenses while he was required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Burns, 55, of Sparks, Nevada, “sextorted” several minors online through Omegle, Snapchat, Tiktok and Mega between 2018 and 2021.

He threatened these minors, forcing them to produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and then published the CSAM on darknet forums.

According to the Department of Justice, Burns was the author of the largest number of illegal content on these forums during this period.

“He abused over 100 children, many of whom have still not been identified.

“Burns’ crimes came to the attention of law enforcement when the mother of one of his victims saw threatening messages on the victim’s phone and reported them to police,” the Justice Department said.

Burns was also ordered to pay $82,655.92 in restitution and $21,000 in fees under the Amy, Vicky and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act.