Cartersville Man Sentenced For Producing Child Pornography

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A Cartersville man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for producing child pornography after he convinced an underage girl to send photos of the child's younger sisters.

Shawn Ryan Budovic, who targeted very young children for sexual exploitation, was sentenced to 25 years followed by a lifetime supervised release, ,the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia said.

“The defendant used the internet to hunt and sexually exploit young children for his own sexual gratification,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “While Budovic will now serve a lengthy prison sentence for his crimes, this is also a reminder to parents of the dangers children may encounter on the internet, as well as an alert to tactics predators used to lure, manipulate and prey on their victims.”

“Individuals responsible for producing child pornography steal the innocence of children and further their revictimization each time the evidence of that exploitation is shared online,” said Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Nick S. Annan. “This case shows HSI investigators are actively working to identity and disrupt the trade of these illegal images, and also to identify and seek prosecution of the criminals who produce and possess them.”

According to federal prosecutors, Budovic used Kik, a mobile messaging app, to meet his former girlfriend when she was a minor. The Cartersville resident struck up a relationship with the girl and over time, groomed her to believe that his sexual interest in children was "normal," the U.S. attorney's office said.

Budovic told the girl of his sexual interest in young children and even sent her photos of child pornography. Federal prosecutors say Budovic asked the girl to send sexually explicit photos of her younger siblings, who were as young as 3, 5 and 9.

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"At Budovic's urging, the minor girlfriend ultimately sent him multiple sexually explicit photos of her three-year-old and nine-year-old sisters," Pak's office notes.

Homeland Security Investigations agents found pornographic photos of the children on Budovic's phone when they executed a search warrant at his home.

The Cartersville man's "obsession with child pornography" didn't stop there, the U.S. Attorney's office notes. He also had a collection of hundreds of videos and images of prepubescent girls being sexually molested and raped. Budovic sought out girls as young as 12 years old on websites such as Facebook and Skype, and engaged in sexually explicit chats with numerous minors, prosecutors said. In multiple instances, he enticed young girls to send him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves over the internet. Budovic also shared images of his own genitals with the girls.

Budovic will be required to register as a sex offender upon release. Budovic was convicted on these charges on May 1, 2018, following his guilty plea.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolee Porter prosecuted the case.

Photo: Shawn Ryan Budovic. Credit: Bartow County Jail