Last Updated on June 5, 2025 8:33 pm
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A previously convicted sex offender who served as the administrator of anonline chatroom dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was sentenced to 188months in prison today for distributing child pornography, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S.Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term imposed,Nicholas Tyler Banks, 24, of Burnsville, N.C., was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervisedrelease, to register as a sex offender, and to pay $26,000 in restitution.
Chief Daniel Duckworth of the Boone Police Department joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson inmaking the announcement.
According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, beginning in September 2023, aBoone Police Department detective was conducting an undercover investigation into the sexualexploitation of children online. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that Bankswas using a commonly available chat application to share images and videos depicting the sexualabuse of children in a chatroom dedicated to sharing CSAM. All the files shared by Banks weremade available for all users of the chatroom to view, download, and further distribute. TheCSAM files depicted prepubescent children engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adultsand some of the videos depicted sadomasochistic conduct. The investigation further revealed thatBanks served as the administrator of the chat group, and in that role, he was in charge of addingnew members to the group.
In January 2024, a search warrant was executed at Banks’s residence. Several electronic deviceswere seized and forensically examined. In total, investigators found that Banks possessed theequivalent (when taking videos into account) of more than 47,700 CSAM images. Investigatorsalso determined that Banks continued to collect and share additional CSAM even after the searchwarrant was executed.
Banks was previously convicted of the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in Sullivan County, inTennessee, and as a result of that conviction he was a registered sex offender.
On January 27, 2025, Banks pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography with a qualifyingprior conviction. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the FederalBureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.
In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson commended the Boone PoliceDepartment for their investigation of the case.
Assistant United States Attorney Alexis Solheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Ashevilleprosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat thegrowing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by theDepartment of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s ChildExploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state andlocal resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via theInternet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project SafeChildhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.