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A Louisville, Kentucky man faces 45 years in prison after he was convicted of two counts of sexual exploitation of a child while required to register as a sex offender after he coerced a nine-year-old Indiana girl through a social media account to send him sexually explicit images.
Chief U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced Darren Ringenberg, 30, to the prison term followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to the Indiana Southern District’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents, in 2019, Ringenberg was previously convicted in Kentucky of 20 counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and was required to register as a sex offender for life.
Then, after his release from the Kentucky offense, in June 2023, Ringenberg, using the Snapchat username “devil_hell6969,” communicated with a nine-year old girl living in Monroe County and coerced her to send sexually explicit images and videos, threatening to hack into her social media accounts and remove all her friends if she did not comply.
Ringenberg directed her as to what images to send, how to take the photos and told her that they could meet in person in the future. He also falsely claimed to be 16 years old and would screen-record and save many of the images and conversations without the child’s knowledge.
After receiving a tip about his illicit behavior online, law enforcement conducted judicially authorized searches of both Ringenberg’s Snapchat account and his residence in Louisville.
Investigators found text messages, many of which were sexual in nature, between Ringenberg and various other unidentified minors, including the nine-year-old girl. Also located on his cell phone camera roll were many Snapchat screen recordings of minor victims engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
“Sex offenders often use manipulation and threats to sexually exploit children with utter disregard for the lasting trauma they inflict. I urge parents and guardians to talk to the children in their lives about what they’re doing online and make sure they have trusted adults they can turn to for help,” said John Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “I commend the FBI and the Bloomington Police Department for their work to seek justice for this victim and protect other children from this online predator.”
The FBI and Bloomington Police Department investigated the case.
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