Laurel County Man Sentenced to 20 Years for Transporting 14-Year-Old Girl for Sex

LONDON, Ky. — Christopher D. Adams was sentenced June 3, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky to 20 years in federal prison for transporting a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Adams, 37, of Laurel County, pleaded guilty to the charge after investigators determined he drove the 14-year-old girl from Kentucky to Ohio and other locations between June and August 2024 to have sex with her. The statutory maximum for the offense is life imprisonment; the court imposed 240 months.

The sentence includes a lifetime term of supervised release with sex-offender registration requirements. Adams must also forfeit a cellphone used in the offense.

The case was brought under 18 U.S.C. § 2423(a), which prohibits transporting an individual under 18 with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. The statute carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life.

Downstream, the conviction activates immediate federal sex-offender registration obligations under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. Upon release, Adams will be subject to five years of supervised release during which any violation, including unauthorized contact with minors or travel without permission, can return him to prison.

The U.S. Probation Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky will monitor compliance.

The sentence concludes a prosecution initiated after the victim’s disclosure and corroborating digital evidence recovered from the forfeited device. No co-defendants were charged.

This is the latest in a series of Eastern District of Kentucky cases involving interstate transportation of minors for sexual exploitation. Federal law enforcement has pursued similar charges under § 2423 in at least four other public cases in the district since 2023, each resulting in sentences exceeding the 10-year mandatory minimum.