CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A Clarksville couple have been sentenced to federal prison for child pornography crimes.
Kara Adkins, 38, and Robert Adkins, 42, were sentenced Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee announced in a news release.
Kara Adkins was sentenced to 260 months in prison (21 years, 8 months) and Robert Adkins to 10 years in prison. The court also ordered Kara Adkins to be placed on supervised release for 10 years and Robert Adkins for eight.
Both were indicted in January 2018 for conspiracy to produce child pornography and other related charges and pleaded guilty in October 2021. Kara Adkins pleaded guilty to production, transportation and possession of child sexual abuse material. Robert Adkins pleaded guilty to receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material, the release said.
According to court records, Kara Adkins and Robert Adkins used a texting app to communicate with each other while Robert Adkins was deployed overseas with the US Army. The defendants discussed engaging in sexual activity with five children they had access to at various times.
“The chats, which included discussions of prior, current and future sexual abuse of the children, were detailed and explicit. The chats were extensive and amounted to hundreds of pages. During these discussions, Kara Adkins sent Robert Adkins numerous images of her sexually abusing a young child. After receiving those images, Robert Adkins requested more explicit images of the child and discussed his desire to engage in additional sexual exploitation of children,” the release said.
The sexual abuse material depicted infants, toddlers and prepubescent children. Kara Adkins was in possession of several hundred images of child sexual abuse, and Robert Akins was found to be in possession of approximately 92 images.
According to court documents, Robert Adkins was subsequently discharged from the US Army due to his involvement in this conduct.
This matter was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Daughtrey prosecuted the case.