A Washington State man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday for pressuring eight girls, ranging in ages from 12 to 16, into sending him explicit photos and videos, New York Times reports.
Joshua Henry Punt, 39, pleaded guilty in April to production of child pornography, enticement of a minor, distribution of child pornography, and advertisement of child pornography. Punt used the apps Kik and Snapchat, and pretended to be a teenager while getting underage girls to send him explicit material before forcing them to give him more by threatening to share the images he already had in his possession.
Punt was arrested in May 2019 following an FBI investigation, which was launched after the parents of a then-15-year-old girl contacted New York State Police in December 2018. A November 2019 federal complaint indicates Punt posed as a 17-year-old when he connected with the girl via Kik, and demanded that she send him photos three days later.
Punt pushed for more and threatened to share her previously sent videos and images with her school, coaches, etc. He showed her a screenshot of a Kik group chat where her photo was seen, and commented on.
Investigators discovered that he was the administrator of a group on Kik that required its members to share child pornography or else they would be banned. An undercover FBI employee discovered such content when clicking on links posted by Punt.
The girl met his request “in order to prevent him from making her depictions public,” according to the complaint. However, when Punt asked for even more, she alerted her parents who called the police.
The eight girls terrorized by Punt were from across the United States. “There are no words to express how serious this crime is,” U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said during his sentencing. “The weight of the damage will go on for scores of decades – rippling through lives.”
Punt will also be required to register as a sex offender following the conclusion of his prison time.
