Timothy Ray Dale, a 64-year-old resident of Paris, Kentucky, was sentenced on April 7 to 360 months in federal prison for the production of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Robert Wier handed down the sentence after Dale pleaded guilty to using minor victims to produce explicit images.
The case highlights ongoing efforts by law enforcement and prosecutors to address crimes involving the exploitation of children. Officials said that such offenses are prosecuted aggressively due to their serious impact on victims and communities.
According to court documents, law enforcement became involved when a witness reported finding explicit images of minors on Dale’s phone on October 30, 2023. A search revealed more than fifty sexually explicit depictions involving two minor victims, taken between September and October of that year. Dale admitted that he used minors on multiple occasions for this purpose.
Federal law requires Dale to serve at least eighty-five percent of his sentence before being eligible for release. After serving his prison term, he will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for fifteen years.
The sentencing was announced jointly by Jason Parman, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge at the FBI Louisville Field Office; Chief Mark Burden from the Paris Police Department; and Phillip J. Burnett Jr., Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police. The investigation included efforts from those agencies as well as assistance from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Melton prosecuted the case as part of Project Safe Childhood—a national initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse through coordinated federal, state, and local action.
