JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former U.S. Navy petty officer stationed at Submarine Base Kings Bay has been sentenced after admitting to distribution of child pornography.
Anthony Gabriel Ortiz, 23, of Kings Bay, Ga., was sentenced to 74 months in prison after pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $19,000, to register as a sex offender, and to serve 15 years of supervised release after completion of his prison sentence.
There is no parole in the federal system.
Court documents and testimony reveals that in 2019, when Ortiz was in the U.S. Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Charleston, S.C., investigators with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found online images of child pornography shared via a messaging application.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service was contacted.
Ortiz, a petty officer third class, reportedly transferred in April 2019 to Submarine Base Kings Bay in Kingsland where he later was interviewed by investigators.
Documents reveal he was taken into custody after admitting to possessing and distributing child pornography over the internet, and multiple images and videos of child sexual exploitation were found on electronic devices in his possession.
Anyone with information on suspected child sexual exploitation can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678, or https://report.cybertip.org/.
