ADMINISTRATOR OF ONLINE CHATROOM DEDICATED TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE MATERIAL IS SENTENCED TO 15+ YEARS IN PRISON

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A previously convicted sex offender who served as the administrator of an
online chatroom dedicated to sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) was sentenced to 188
months 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 supervised
release, 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 in
making the announcement.

According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, beginning in September 2023, a
Boone Police Department detective was conducting an undercover investigation into the sexual
exploitation of children online. During the investigation, law enforcement determined that Banks
was using a commonly available chat application to share images and videos depicting the sexual
abuse of children in a chatroom dedicated to sharing CSAM. All the files shared by Banks were
made available for all users of the chatroom to view, download, and further distribute. The
CSAM files depicted prepubescent children engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults
and some of the videos depicted sadomasochistic conduct. The investigation further revealed that
Banks served as the administrator of the chat group, and in that role, he was in charge of adding
new members to the group.

In January 2024, a search warrant was executed at Banks’s residence. Several electronic devices
were seized and forensically examined. In total, investigators found that Banks possessed the
equivalent (when taking videos into account) of more than 47,700 CSAM images. Investigators
also determined that Banks continued to collect and share additional CSAM even after the search
warrant was executed.

Banks was previously convicted of the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in Sullivan County, in
Tennessee, 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 qualifying
prior conviction. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal
Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

In making today’s announcement, U.S. Attorney Ferguson commended the Boone Police
Department for their investigation of the case.

Assistant United States Attorney Alexis Solheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville
prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the
growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the
Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child
Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and
local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the
Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe
Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.