A Corinth man will spend three decades behind bars for producing pornographic content with minors and posting it on part of the internet that lets people hide their identity and location.
According to court documents, Paul Burk III, 36, recorded child sexual abuse videos using minors under the age of 10 years old and posted them on forums on the dark web. The victims were identified through Operation Rescue Me, a strategic partnership between the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which focuses on determining the identity of child victims depicted in child exploitation material.
Following a sentencing hearing on Wednesday in Greenville, Chief U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown ordered Burk to serve 30 years in prison, followed by a term of supervised release for the remainder of his life.
“The depraved conduct of this defendant inflicted horrific damage upon innocent lives, for which he was appropriately sentenced to the maximum possible penalty in this case,” U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner said. “Our office will always remain committed to protecting children from such abhorrent conduct, and we are proud of the partnership between the FBI, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, and our prosecutor who worked together to see justice done for the victims in this case.”
The FBI and the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker S. King prosecuted the case.
“The suffering these children have endured is unimaginable,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said. “I am grateful for our partners at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI. Working together across agencies we were able to ensure justice is served here. We cannot give these children back what their abuser has taken from them, but we have at least started them on the road to healing.”
