Northern California man sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexually exploiting autistic child

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a 51-year-old Northern California man to 27 years in prison for sexually exploiting an autistic child three years ago.

Brent Hooton of Marysville was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento announced in a press release.

According to federal prosecutors, in May 2021, Hooton produced three images of a “severely autistic child” under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit acts.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Hooton shared these explicit images with an undercover FBI agent through the Kik messenger app.

Prosecutors said FBI agents executed a search warrant, examined Hooton's cellphone and found that Hooton had sent sexually explicit images of the child to at least six other Kik users, along with at least four images of other children engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

This case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the U.S. Department of Justice launched in May 2006 to combat the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.