A man was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for producing child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Officials said Kevin John Merritt, 63, pleaded guilty last year to coercing and using a minor child to produce videos and photos that depicted the child being sexually abused.

Merritt was already a registered child sex offender following his 2011 federal conviction for possessing videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

According to court documents, this investigation began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a “CyberTipline Report” from the company that owns Facebook.

This report advised that files depicting child sexual abuse materials had been sent through Facebook Messenger on Sept. 14, 2022, by user “Jackie Fro

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