Married couple gets lengthy prison sentences for producing child porn

PENSACOLA, Fla. – A married couple from northwest Florida was sentenced Monday on federal charges of conspiring to produce child pornography. The sentences resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with assistance from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Pensacola Police Department and the Northwest Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Brandon Gillreath, 33, was sentenced to 35 years in prison, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release. In addition to the child pornography charges, he was also sentenced for making false statements to federal agents.

Corine Motley, 25, was sentenced to 29.5 years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release.

A federal investigation began on Dec. 12 when HSI received a referral from the Danish National Police regarding a video containing child pornography. The Danish National Police believed that the video had most likely been produced in the United States. It depicted an adult female and a young child, approximately five years old, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

To identify the adult female featured in the videos, HSI issued a public appeal for assistance. Hours later, based on information received through that public appeal, HSI and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office were able to determine that Motley was the adult female in the video engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the minor child. Motley was subsequently arrested.

"The power of social media and traditional media outlets proved invaluable in this case," said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa, which oversees the Pensacola office that conducted this investigation. "We arrested a child predator within hours of asking the public for assistance."

HSI obtained federal search warrants for the defendants’ laptop, digital camera and email accounts. Within the digital media, HSI special agents located more than a dozen images of Motley engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a second minor female, who was approximately 10 years old. Further investigation revealed that Motley and Gillreath engaged in sexually explicit conduct with additional minor victims.

"I thank everyone who assisted with this investigation. Not only did we put two child predators behind bars, we also rescued several children from further abuse," said McCormick.

"I want to express my deep gratitude to those persons who assisted and provided information, as well as to law enforcement and our prosecutor for their excellent work on this case," said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Pamela Marsh.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.