Mississippi man gets 22 years for child porn crimes

A Mississippi man who tried to meet an underage girl in Burnett County was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

Thomas Ray Hudson of Grenada, Mississippi, plead guilty to the charge in June.

According to court records, Hudson flew to Minneapolis in August of 2024 to meet a 13-year-old girl in Burnett County that he met online. The attempt was thwarted when he could not find the girl’s home and got stuck in Minneapolis.

Through a law enforcement tip, he was later identified, charged and released. According to Chadwick M. Elgersma, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, his electronics were searched after his arrest and multiple additional victims were identified.

Law enforcement ultimately discovered that Hudson was an online administrator of a group with hundreds of members, dedicated to child exploitation. He was also involved in online groups where adult members threatened violence against minor girls who did not create sexually explicit material for the members of the group.

At the sentencing hearing, a relative of one of the child victims, who described Hudson as a “monster,” talked about the devastating emotional impact the crime had on the child and her family. She relayed that the child was now afraid to even go outside out of fear that Hudson was coming to get her.

Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson called Hudson’s conduct cruel and manipulative and noted that this was among the worst case of this type that the court had ever seen.

“Today’s sentencing reaffirms my office’s steadfast commitment to protecting our children, the most vulnerable among us, from predators who exploit and harm them online,” Elgersma said.

Elgersma also praised the extraordinary effort of the law enforcement agents around the country who worked tirelessly to bring Hudson and his cohorts to justice.

The charge against Hudson was the result of an investigation conducted by the Burnett County Sheriff’s Office; the Kentucky State Police; the Bothell, Washington, Police Department; and FBI field offices across the country, including offices in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Tennessee and Mississippi.