A former Elmore police officer has received a 13-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal child pornography charges.
Samuel Kurp, 29, of Oregon, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge James Knepp II to pay $36,000 in restitution and $5,100 in court assessments, and he will be under supervision for 15 years after his release from prison.
He pleaded guilty Nov. 20 to a single count of receiving and distributing child pornography under an agreement that resulted in a possession count being dismissed.
Kurp was arrested in August, 2020, after investigators acting on a cyber tip linked him to internet addresses from which the Kik and SnapChat apps were used to distribute child pornography images and videos to others, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio said in a statement issued Tuesday.
The activity documented between April and June, 2020, occurred both while Kurp was on duty with the Elmore Police Department and while off duty at the Oregon home of his parents, where he then lived, prosecutors said.
On Aug. 10, 2020, a search warrant was executed at an Elmore residence to which Kurp had just moved. Among evidence seized was Kurp’s cell phone, prosecutors said, and forensic investigators found on it pornographic images and videos including depictions of prepubescent minors and toddlers engaged in sex acts.
The case was investigated by the FBI in Toledo and the Northwest Ohio Crimes Against Children Task Force, with assistance from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, prosecutors said.
First Published March 26, 2024, 3:27 p.m.
