Former Robins AFB employee sentenced to 17 years for child sex abuse material
Two Middle Georgia men, one of whom is a former U.S. airman, admitted to possessing child sexual abuse material in U.S. District Court this week in Macon, officials said.
One man pleaded guilty while another was sentenced in two separate cases of child sexual abuse materials in Georgia Middle District court, according to a statement from the U.S Attorney’s Office.
Kenneth Queen, 35, of Forsyth pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing child abuse materials and failing to register as a sex offender. Justin Wayne Pallett, 29, of Warner Robins was sentenced Tuesday to 17.5 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
“Our office will work tirelessly to protect children from child predators,” said U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in the statement. “Through Project Safe Childhood, our office has a team of prosecutors working with law enforcement from every level dedicated to protecting our most vulnerable citizens from child victimization.”
The cases
Police caught both men with the abuse materials in 2020, according to court documents.
Police identified Pallett, then an active duty service member at Robins Air Force Base, in November of 2020 after a mother reported that her 13-year-old daughter sent explicit Snapchat pictures to a 26-year-old man, according to Pallett’s plea agreement.
Police obtained a search warrant and found 178 pictures and six videos of sexual child abuse material across Pallett’s computers, tablet and cell phone, the statement said. Pallett was also still having sexual conversations with multiple underage girls on Snapchat.
He pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Tilman E. Self III.
Queen was accused of illegally tattooing minors in summer of 2020, which led to police investigating him, the statement said. They discovered Queen captured explicit content involving a minor and had also failed to register as a sex offender in Monroe County after moving there from Tennessee. He had been convicted of child molestation in Madison County in 2008.
Queen will face sentencing in July after he pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell.