A Madisonville man has been sentenced at U.S. District Court in Owensboro to 29 years and 6 months in federal prison for the production and possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

Court documents state that Steven Ray Buchanan, 46, received the sentence, which will be followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, on four counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Buchanan possessed over 1,200 images and 4 videos of child pornography. Buchanan also took lascivious videos and pictures of two young girls while they were in his bedroom.

Upon his release, Buchanan will be required to register as a sex offender. Buchanan was also ordered to pay $24,000 in restitution. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was investigated by the Homeland Security Investigations office in Bowling Green, with assistance from the Kentucky State Police, the Madisonville Police Department, and the FBI Owensboro Satellite Office.

This case was brought 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. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood brings together federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, you can visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, go to www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”