'Send What You Got, Send Youngest': Markham Man, 46, Gets 33 Years For Running Child Porn Chat Group

CHICAGO — A Markham man has been sentenced to more than 33 years in federal prison for operating an online chat group that shared large amounts of child pornography, prosecutors said.

Christopher Martin operated and led a group chat on the instant-messaging mobile application Kik, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, said. Martin moderated the chat and enforced the rules.

The primary rule was that if members wanted to stay in the group, they had to constantly share photos and videos of child pornography. For example, when a prospective user wanted to join the group, Martin wrote, “Send what you got. Anything young is fine for group trade . . . Send youngest.” If group members were slow to share child pornography, Martin would pressure them to do so, writing, “If you don’t send [images to the group] you will be removed [from the group].” Martin was also a prolific sharer and trader of child pornography in his group chat, prosecutors said.

Martin, 46, of Markham, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of transportation of child pornography. On June 11, Martin was sentenced to 33 years and nine months in federal prison, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

“Defendant’s offense is extremely serious,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Zenner argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Defendant’s facilitation of the sharing of hundreds of images and videos of young children being abused helped to drive the creation of those images and videos, and the creation of future images and videos of other abused children.”

Anyone who believes they are a victim of sexual exploitation, is encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to www.missingkids.com, or by calling 1-800-843-5678. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.