A Cottonwood woman, Sarah Melissa Cox, was sentenced to 262 months’ in prison, to be followed by lifetime supervised release after she was convicted of three counts of receipt of child pornography, one count of noticing or advertising child pornography, and one count of distribution of child pornography at a jury trial.
Evidence at trial in May, showed that Cox, age 41, engaged in a conversation with Richard Hennis of Colorado from August 2015 until January 2016, using the Kik social media application. Cox and Hennis described in detail kidnapping, molesting, and assaulting children. Hennis sent numerous images of child pornography to Cox, including three images of an infant being sexually assaulted that Hennis had conspired to produce with a different woman. Cox provided Hennis with a link to additional child pornography.
“The lengthy sentence handed down in this case is instrumental in pursuing justice for the victims of this child predator’s heinous crimes,” said Scott Brown, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phoenix. “HSI will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to abuse our most vulnerable population and continue our partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office to ensure sexual predators are apprehended and prosecuted.”