Registered Sex Offender Sentenced to 30 Years in Federal Prison for Exploiting 11-Year-Old Boy Met Through Online Game
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee announced that Benjamin Franklin Harden, 30, formerly of Jackson, Tennessee, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2251(a). U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant announced the sentence.
According to information presented in court, in early 2025, Harden befriended an 11-year-old boy from West Virginia while playing the online video game Call of Duty. The two exchanged phone numbers and began communicating via text messages, phone calls, and video chats. Harden asked the minor to take nude photographs and send them to him, and the two also had live video chats where they performed sexual acts on themselves.
Harden instructed the minor to delete any trace of their communications, but the minor's mother found some of their messages and photos and called the police. Investigators determined that Harden was living in Madison County, and the case was referred to the FBI in Jackson.
FBI agents determined that Harden was convicted of aggravated sexual battery in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in 2016 and was required to register as a sex offender. Agents also learned he had recently moved to Georgia. In June 2025, FBI agents located Harden at his place of employment in Georgia, and he admitted to engaging in an illegal online relationship with the boy.
Following his guilty plea earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson sentenced Harden on October 15, 2026, to 360 months' imprisonment and five years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. After release, he will have to register as a sex offender under SORNA.
The case was investigated by the FBI Nashville Field Office's Jackson Resident Agency, the Tennessee Department of Correction, and the Martinsburg, West Virginia Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Morrow prosecuted the case.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国司法部罗伯特·肯尼迪大楼（GSM固定图库，APK，CC BY 4.0）：被告无官方照片，以司法部大楼为兜底图 / The Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building (GSM fixed image library, photo by APK, CC BY 4.0); no official photo of the defendant is available.
