Las Vegas man convicted on multiple child sex charges, faces life in prison
A Las Vegas man was convicted by a federal jury Tuesday on charges of coercion and enticement, child sexual exploitation, and possession of child pornography.
Kenton Hardy King, 29, was charged with meeting a child through the anonymous online chat platform Omegle.
Authorities said he coerced and enticed the victim to engage in sexual activity and to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing sexual images. King also possessed child sexual abuse material on two of his cell phones, according to a Department of Justice news release.
A jury convicted King of one count each of coercion and enticement; sexual exploitation of children; and possession of child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced in September and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison and a fine.
King initially was arrested by Henderson police in early June 2020, according to an arrest report. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on sexual exploitation of a child and other felony charges on Dec. 15, 2020.
The Henderson arrest report states that King met a Las Vegas Valley teen online, obtained her phone number and personal information, then informed the youth “now I own you.”
The document states that King met with the child, sexually abused her, produced pornographic images from the encounter and threatened to “sell her on Tinder.” Police said King threatened to send the images to her friends and family if she didn’t comply with his demands.
“Kenton created a Tinder account for her and told her that he was going to sell her on Tinder and that she needed to make $200 by the ninth of June,” police said.
The FBI and the Henderson Police Department investigated the case.
Contact Marvin Clemons at mclemons@reviewjournal.com.