DENVER — A South Carolina man was sentenced last week to 30 years in federal prison for coercing an enticing six Colorado minors to produce child pornography.

This sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer, District of Colorado. This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Christopher George White, 38, of McCormick, South Carolina, must also serve a lifetime of supervised release for his conviction on six counts of coercing and enticing a minor.

White was remanded to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons following the hearing. He used social media, text and telephone calls to meet, entice and then threaten minors into taking off their clothing or committing sex acts for his own personal pleasure.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, between June 30 and Aug. 4, 2014, White targeted 13- to 14-year-old children by using Facebook profiles “Kent Noelle” and “Glenn Black.” White claimed to be a teenage boy; however, he was actually a 35-year-old man and previously convicted sex offender. He used those profiles to correspond with minor girls, including six girls from Colorado. White first befriended the children online; he then texted and even talked with the minors by phone. Later he began to use harassment, threats of physical harm and threats to post sexually explicit photographs of the children or their friends on social media. He used these tactics to coerce the teenagers to produce and send him child pornography of themselves.

Even after pleading guilty to the six counts in this case, but before his sentence was announced, White continued to contact other minor girls while he was in prison to harass them or engage in graphic phone sex with them. When White’s phone privileges were curtailed, he used another inmate’s access to continue contacting teenage girls from prison.

“This child exploitation case is an example of HSI’s commitment, in partnership with the Department of Justice, to track, investigate and prosecute child predators to the fullest extent of the law,” said John Eisert, acting special agent in charge of HSI Denver. “HSI has an active and ongoing Operation Predator program to identify criminals who prey on children. Operation Predator helps make our communities safer by bringing criminals to justice for their despicable exploitation of our children.”

“Both HSI and our prosecutors’ forensic skill at catching these predators is second to none,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. “But the absolute best way to protect your kids from being preyed upon is to keep an eye on their behavior and phone and computer use.”

This case was investigated by HSI and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office in South Carolina.

White is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Tonini and Gregory Holloway, District of Colorado.

This investigation was conducted under HSI’s Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 16,000 individuals for crimes against children, including the production and distribution of online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking of children. In fiscal year 2016, more than 2,600 child predators were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative and more than 800 victims identified or rescued.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page. HSI is a founding member of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.