Staff reports 5:50 a.m.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 5:52 am

PORTLAND, Maine - U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Rusty Hood, 38, of Sanford, pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court to transporting child pornography.

According to court records, in May 2016, Hood chatted online with an individual in Ohio. During the chat, the two men exchanged images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Hood claimed during the chat that he was interested in babies, and that he had engaged in sexual activity with a young girl.

Hood faces between five and 20 years in prison, between five years and life on supervised release and a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit and the Sanford Police Department.