Arizona Man Sentenced in D.C. to 100 Months for Distributing Child Pornography

<p>WASHINGTON – Christopher&nbsp;Murphy,&nbsp;37, of&nbsp;Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 100&nbsp;months in prison&nbsp;in connection&nbsp;with distributing&nbsp;child sexual abuse materials,&nbsp;announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.&nbsp;</p><p>Murphy&nbsp;pleaded guilty on&nbsp;March&nbsp;16, 2026,&nbsp;before&nbsp;Judge Royce C. Lamberth&nbsp;to one count of distribution of child pornography. In addition to the&nbsp;100-month prison sentence, Judge&nbsp;Lamberth&nbsp;ordered&nbsp;Murphy&nbsp;to serve&nbsp;10&nbsp;years of supervised release. Murphy will also&nbsp;be required&nbsp;to register as a sex offender.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>According to court papers,&nbsp;on various occasions,&nbsp;Murphy&nbsp;used&nbsp;two encrypted messaging applications – Signal and Telegram – to distribute and receive child sexual abuse materials&nbsp;(CSAM), including materials involving extremely young children.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>In&nbsp;addition to his receipt and distribution of CSAM,&nbsp;Murphy&nbsp;was a member of several Signal groups&nbsp;that were primarily&nbsp;used for the sharing of CSAM.&nbsp;&nbsp;Murphy also&nbsp;hosted&nbsp;and attended&nbsp;Zoom video meetings&nbsp;to connect with other “pedos” and view and exchange CSAM.&nbsp;In chat messages recovered by law enforcement,&nbsp;Murphy talked&nbsp;about building his “collection” of child pornography,&nbsp;ultimately possessing&nbsp;thousands of images and videos on his devices,&nbsp;all of&nbsp;which were discovered&nbsp;following&nbsp;his&nbsp;arrest.&nbsp;</p><p>This case was investigated by FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.&nbsp;It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney&nbsp;Richard Kelley.&nbsp;</p><p>This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better&nbsp;locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as&nbsp;identify&nbsp;and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit <a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/" target="_blank">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>25cr231&nbsp;</p><p>Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/USAO_DC">X</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/usao_dc/">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@usao_dc">YouTube</a></p><p>Or at <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc">https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc</a></p>