The 47-year-old husband of a one-time Atlanta police sergeant was sentenced Friday to a decade in federal prison for taking photographs of teenage girls engaged in sexual activity with him.
Terrill Marion Crane pleaded guilty in January to charges he produced child pornography and was sentenced Friday to 10 years 1 month in prison plus three years' probation.
Crane was arrested in November 2007 after FBI agents were tipped off that the Atlanta Police Department had more than 50 pictures that depicted Crane engaged in sex acts with at least 11 girls between the ages of 12 and 15 years.
APD investigators also allegedly knew Crane's police officer wife had burned pictures she found in her house. The APD did nothing in the seven years after investigators were tipped off in 2000.
"His crimes are unforgivable, as is the fact that when a citizen provided strong evidence of the crimes to the Atlanta police ... the investigation was squelched and the defendant's police sergeant wife was tipped off and destroyed evidence," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said.
"We commend the Atlanta police officers who later advised the FBI about the case," Nahmias said.
An APD spokeswoman, Sgt. Lisa Keyes, said in an e-mail that the department "fully cooperated" with Nahmias' office during the Crane investigation.
"The department does not condone the action of hindering any criminal investigation and will continue to thoroughly investigate any and all reports of criminal misconduct."
Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington made a similar comment at the time of Crane's arrest, adding that he had only learned about the case only a month earlier.
Nahmias said Crane started approaching young girls in 1999, offering them $25 to $100 for sex or to recruit girls for him. In most cases, Crane took photos or directed that photos be taken of the sexual activity.
Sometimes the girls would come to the Cranes' house, but many of the encounters were at or inside Terrill Crane's pickup truck, authorities said.
But a clerk at a photo shop, concerned about the pictures Crane brought to the store for processing, called police in 2000. The clerk continued to give police pictures as Crane brought in film for processing through 2002, federal authorities said.
In 2003, Crane's wife, Atlanta police Sgt. Tonya C. Crane, heard a rumor the department had sexually explicit photographs of her husband with girls, many of them in middle school. She searched their house and burned the pictures she found.
The APD suspended Tonya Crane without pay in November 2007 on allegations she destroyed evidence. She subsequently resigned and was never charged. Pennington fired two other department employees after a 2008 investigation.
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