(WHDH) — A man who was caught texting on an airplane about drugging and molesting children was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiring to produce images of child rape, authorities announced last week.
Michael Kellar, 58, of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court after an alert passenger aboard a flight in July 2017 noticed disturbing and sexually explicit texts that he was sending to his girlfriend, 52-year-old Gail Lynn Burnworth, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
An investigation later revealed that Kellar and Burnworth had produced and shared sexually explicit images of children who were placed in their care, prosecutors said.
After the witness reported her concerns to the airline flight attendants, the flight crew arranged for law enforcement to meet the plane, according to records filed in the case. Kellar was arrested after a review of his electronic devices showed graphic explicit exchanges with Burnworth discussing drugging and raping the children in her care.
“I commend the airline passenger who spoke up about the disturbing texts she witnessed on her flight. We all have had that moment when we question: ‘Do I get involved,'” U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran said. “In this case, that witness triggered the rescue of two small children and the investigation that revealed this defendant to be a predator – collecting images of child sexual abuse.”
In Sept. 2019, Kellar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography and access with intent to view child pornography.
“This case for me has been the most disturbing case that I have had,” U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton said before sentencing Kellar to 15 years behind bars. “These offenses beset on society a waterfall of negative repercussions that can never be repaired.”
Kellar will be on lifetime supervised release and will be required to register as a sex offender when his prison sentence expires.
Burnworth pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography and will be sentenced in March.
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