PORTLAND, Maine: A Texas man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Portland for distributing and possessing child pornography.
Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker sentenced Kenneth Kring, 23, to 13 ½ years in prison to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Judge Walker also ordered Kring to pay $34,500 in restitution to victims whose images he possessed and distributed. Kring pleaded guilty on April 27, 2026.
According to court records, while assigned to the USS Cheyenne, a submarine stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, then-U.S. Navy sailor Kring engaged in ongoing distribution of child sexual abuse material. In January 2025, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) executed a search warrant at Kring’s residence on the naval base, during which time he voluntarily admitted to accessing, viewing, and distributing child sexual abuse material over the internet, including the instant messaging mobile app Kik Messenger. Investigators also located child sexual abuse material on his cell phone. A subsequent search warrant to MediaLab.ai, the parent company of Kik, revealed Kring had created 11 separate Kik Messenger accounts that he used to distribute sexually explicit material of children to other Kik users.
NCIS investigated the case. To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child sexual abuse material: Child sexual abuse material – referred to in legal terms as “child pornography” – captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims’ exploitation and abuse, and they suffer revictimization every time the images are viewed. In 2023, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 36 million reports of the possession, manufacture, or distribution of child sexual abuse materials. To file a report with NCMEC, go to https://report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741.
Project Safe Childhood: This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psc.