Ex-Air Force member sentenced for child sex offenses

A former U.S. Air Force service member from Kalispell who admitted to using the internet to coerce minor boys into sending him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

According to U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme, Raymond Larry Edward Kennedy, 24, of Kalispell, pleaded guilty in March to sexual exploitation of a child and to receipt of child pornography.

An investigation began in February 2017, the prosecution said in court records, when the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls contacted an agent with Homeland Security Investigations and member of the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force seeking help with an online child exploitation case involving Kennedy. The Air Force discharged Kennedy on Feb. 6, 2017.

Investigators found that Kennedy met a minor boy from Montana on Snapchat and ultimately determined Kennedy had met five other minor boys who all lived in Montana.

In Kennedy’s online communications with the boys from about July 2015 through June 2017, he coerced them into sending him images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The boys were all younger than 18 and lived in Kalispell, Bigfork and Great Falls.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee Peterson prosecuted the case, which was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen presided.