Bridgeview Man Gets 18 Years For Enticing Girl To Take Explicit Photos

BRIDGEVIEW, IL — A Bridgeview man was handed an 18-year sentence by a federal judge for enticing a 14-year-old girl to produce sexually explicit photos of herself and a younger sister.

Brandon T. Hanahan, 26, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal pornography charges. U.S. District Judge Edmond E. Chang imposed the sentence Wednesday after a hearing in federal court in Chicago.

Hanahan admitted in a plea agreement that in 2016 he communicated on Instagram with the teen. Federal prosecutors said Hanahan had enticed her to take sexually explicit photos of herself and send them to him.

They continued to communicate over the next several months. Hanahan repeatedly instructed and coerced the girl, who lived in California, to send him explicit photographs. He also pestered the girl to send sexually explicit photos of her sister, who was under 10, Federal prosecutors said the 14-year-old girl complied with Hanahan’s requests and sent numerous sexually explicit photos of herself and younger sister via Instagram private messaging.

Law enforcement searched Hanahan’s residence and discovered more than 200 images of child pornography on his electronic devices.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Sean Fitzgerald, Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago. The Orange County, Calif. Child Exploitation Task Force and the Santa Ana, Calif., police department. The government was represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Malgorzata Tracz Kozaka.