Former Brooksville Mayor Gets 15 Year For Producing Child Porn

TAMPA, FL ? U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell has sentenced Kevin Hohn, 66, of Brooksville to 15 years in federal prison for producing child pornography.

Hohn, the former mayor of Brooksville and a retired special agent with the criminal investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service, was also ordered to pay a fine of $30,000, a special assessment of $20,000 and $6,000 in restitution to the victims on Tuesday.

Hohn will be required to serve five years of supervised release upon his release from prison and to register as a sex offender.

Hohn pleaded guilty on Nov. 19.

According to court documents, in September and December 2020, investigators connected an internet protocol (IP) address to an address that was distributing images and a video depicting children being sexually abused. The IP address used to distribute these materials was traced to Hohn?s home in Brooksville.

On February 19, 2021, investigators executed a search warrant at Hohn?s home and found Hohn sitting in his office at a computer that was connected to an external hard drive. An examination of the external hard drive revealed more than 100 images depicting child sexual abuse materials.

The investigators also discovered 40 videos and several hundred images of children that had been secretly recorded inside Hohn?s home. The children were unaware that Hohn was recording them as they were dressing and undressing, exiting the shower, and engaging in other innocent activities. Hohn created screen captures of videos that depicted the children naked and zoomed in on one child?s genitalia.

?While child exploitation is disgusting and vile in all circumstances, it can be especially traumatic when the predator is in a position of leadership and trust,? said Homeland Security Tampa acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Silliman. ?Because of the efforts of HSI special agents and the Hernando County and Pasco Sheriff?s Offices, the community can rest assured this criminal will harm no more children.?

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.