An Indiana man convicted of producing child pornography has been found dead in federal prison.
Romio Hawkins, 26, of Portage, Indiana, was serving a 20-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Milan, Michigan.
The Messenger reports:
In 2022, he pleaded guilty to production of material depicting a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to federal prosecutors.
Hawkins confessed to convincing a 16-year-old to produce images and live videos of herself and a 4-year-old “engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Additionally, Hawkins admitted to law enforcement that he possessed over 1,000 images and 300 videos containing child pornography, including materials featuring toddlers and infants,” a news release stated.
In addition to a 20-year prison sentence, Hawkins was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Hawkins’ crimes involving the teen and the four-year-old child occurred between January and February 2021.
On Monday, Hawkins was found unresponsive, and life-saving attempts were unsuccessful.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has not announced his cause of death.
“We have no additional information to provide,” the prison said in response to questions from Fox News about the manner of Hawkins’ death.
During his trial, prosecutors said that he had “serious mental health issues” and a difficult childhood — though they acknowledged that those factors did not justify his actions.
FCI Milan is a low-security male prison about 50 miles outside of Detroit. There are currently just over 1,500 inmates being housed there.
Hawkins had been imprisoned there for about 13 months at the time of his death.
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