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Patrick Lawrence Wood, 35, pleaded guilty after he admitted to paying co-conspirators in the Philippines to produce child pornography with sexually explicit images and videos of children under 12. Wood was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison Thursday, May 26, according to the United State's Attorney's Office.
Wood used social media and various digital money transfer services to solicit and pay for the child pornography. After Wood requested and paid for sexually explicit images of a prepubescent male and female, the social media platform reported the account to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
A search warrant was obtained for Wood's home, where authorities found evidence of Wood working with three co-conspirators in the Philippines to produce child pornography over various digital platforms. This included live video chats where he asked children under the age of 12 to perform sexual acts.
Wood was found to have sent over $40,000 over four years to his co-conspirators to produce child pornography. Evidence of sexually explicit images and videos of boys aged 14-17 in the United States was also found in the investigation. At least one of the United States boys was paid in exchange for the images.
According to his guilty plea, Wood used a social media platform to solicit the production of child pornography and used various digital money transfer services to send payment to co-conspirators in exchange for images and videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as requested by Wood.
Evidence of over 150 other videos and images of child pornography was also found through Wood's devices, and a ticket to visit the Philippines was also discovered, although Wood ultimately did not make that trip and had cancelled the ticket.
Upon release from prison, Wood must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
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