A man has been sentenced to over 33 years in federal prison for operating an online chat group dedicated to sharing child pornography. Christopher Martin, 46, of Markham, Illinois, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of transportation of child pornography.
Martin moderated a group chat on the instant-messaging application Kik, where he enforced a strict rule: members had to consistently share child pornography to remain in the group. He would pressure slow sharers, writing, “If you don’t send [images to the group] you will be removed [from the group],” and was himself a prolific contributor.
U.S. District Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall sentenced Martin to 33 years and nine months on June 11, 2026. The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner emphasized the gravity of the offense, stating, “Defendant’s facilitation of the sharing of hundreds of images and videos of young children being abused helped to drive the creation of those images and videos, and the creation of future images and videos of other abused children.”