Former D.A.R.E. officer sentenced to over 15 years in prison for child pornography crimes

Source: United States Department of Justice News

DAYTON, Ohio – A former longtime Beavercreek police officer was sentenced in U.S. District Court here today to 181 months in prison for committing two federal child pornography crimes.

Kevin A. Kovacs, 60, of Fairborn, was arrested in April 2020 and indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2020. He pleaded guilty in February 2022 to transporting and possessing child pornography.

“The law holds everyone accountable, no matter who they are or what their profession is,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “As a law enforcement officer, Kovacs should have been a trusted member of society, but instead he victimized children. He deserves this time in federal prison.”

Kovacs was employed as a police officer with the Beavercreek Police Department from 1992 until his retirement in 2018. He spent the last six years of his police career as the D.A.R.E. officer in the Beavercreek City Schools.

According to court documents, between April 2015 and July 2017, Kovacs uploaded more than 300 images and 2,200 videos depicting child pornography to his Dropbox account. Videos featured the sexual abuse of children as young as toddler-aged. One video depicted a toddler lying on a diaper whose arms and legs were bound by black tape.

Kovacs also used online messenger, social media, cloud storage and email accounts to transport and possess child pornography.

In total, as of December 2019, Kovacs possessed more than 780 images and 5,100 videos of child pornography.

He was further sentenced to 15 years of supervised release after completion of his prison term and ordered to pay $45,000 in restitution to victims.

Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney, Southern District of Ohio; J. William Rivers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division; Fairborn Police Chief Terry Bennington and Beavercreek Police Chief Jeff Fiorita announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Michael J. Newman. Assistant United States Attorney Dwight K. Keller is representing the United States in this case.

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