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Snapchat Alerted Authorities to NP Sentenced for Child Pornography

— Pediatric NP William Storey had thousands of videos and images

Ƶ MedicalToday
A photo of William Clinton Storey over a photo of a gavel laying on a laptop with the words: CRIME SCENE on the display.

A former pediatric nurse practitioner (NP) has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography, in a case featuring thousands of images and videos, .

William Clinton Storey, 42, of Preston, Georgia, was sentenced to the prison time in addition to 10 years of supervised release by a U.S. judge in the Middle District of Georgia. to one count of distribution of child pornography in May, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The judge also ordered Storey to pay $67,000 in restitution to victims. He must register as a sex offender for life after being released, under the Sex Offender Registration Act.

"As a pediatric nurse practitioner, William Storey was charged with promoting the health and welfare of children. Instead, he chose to prey upon our most vulnerable citizens," U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a DOJ release issued this week.

"William Storey will spend a significant period of time in prison for his role in distributing large amounts of the most depraved depictions of child sexual abuse online -- a criminal act made even more disturbing knowing he was a pediatric nurse practitioner at the time of his crimes," Leary said in a .

Authorities were alerted to Storey's actions by Snapchat, the social media messaging app. It detected that a user identified as "clint31824" had uploaded five files of suspected child pornography while using that platform on November 21, 2019. Snapchat then forwarded the files to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).

GBI traced the IP address used by clint31824 to Storey, who was then employed as a certified family nurse practitioner. Agents executed search warrants at Storey's home and business on February 18, 2020, seizing seven of his devices. A forensic examination of the electronic media taken during this search uncovered about 6,000 videos and 24,000 images of suspected child pornography. The files features depictions of babies, toddlers, and minors engaged in bondage, and male and female prepubescent children being sexually abused by adult males.

According to , Storey worked at an office in Americus, a rural area in between Albany and Columbus near Preston.

Ƶ found four licenses for Storey on the Georgia Nursing Board website. Three licenses are active, including his NP license, while his LPN license expired in 2017 after being issued in 2011. His NP license is set to expire in 2023; it was issued in 2018. His RN license was issued in 2015 and is also set to expire in 2023.

Storey has taken "responsibility for his actions," Rick Daniel Collum, Storey's attorney, via a statement.

"Mr. Storey faced the consequences of those actions," the statement said. "The judge handed down a fair sentence in relation to the charges. ... Mr. Storey knew what those consequences would be and will receive treatment while serving his prison sentence. Child pornography is a tragic crime and with proper treatment Mr. Storey will hopefully be rehabilitated."

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    Ryan Basen reports for MedPage’s enterprise & investigative team. He often writes about issues concerning the practice and business of medicine, nurses, cannabis and psychedelic medicine, and sports medicine. Send story tips to r.basen@medpagetoday.com.