TAMPA, Fla. — A former school bus driver in Pinellas County was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release for receiving child sexual abuse material.
The sentence was handed down Friday as part of a plea deal from Stephen Donald Kearney, 61, of St. Petersburg.
Kearney's conviction came after federal investigators said he used a file-sharing platform on his computer to download videos of young children being sexually abused. Federal investigators said a forensic search of Kearney's computer found thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse material, including depictions of children under the age of 12.
In addition to his prison sentence and supervised release, Kearney will also be required to register as a sex offender and pay $13,000 in restitution to victims of the crimes.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's office said the case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the "growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse."
EDITOR'S NOTE: ABC Action News previously interviewed Kearney for an unrelated story about school bus drivers in 2020.
