BIRMINGHAM, AL — A 35-year-old Birmingham man has pleaded guilty in federal court to producing explicit videos of a child victim, reversing his legal strategy immediately following jury selection for his scheduled trial.
Robert Lee Ford, Jr. entered a guilty plea to two counts of sexual exploitation of children before Chief U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala.
Hospital Abuse Report Initiated Investigation
The federal case stems from an incident on January 24, 2025, when a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to the Children’s of Alabama hospital in Birmingham. Medical personnel had contacted authorities after a mother reported that her 14-year-old daughter had been severely assaulted by Ford.
Following initial interviews at the hospital, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies secured a state search warrant for Ford’s apartment, taking him into custody on localized state charges.
FBI Forensic Review Uncovers Digital Production
Due to the digital components of the case, the FBI Birmingham’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force stepped in to expand the scope of the probe. Federal agents obtained and executed subsequent forensic search warrants targeting Ford’s cloud storage and online digital accounts.
A comprehensive review of the seized data revealed multiple self-produced video files documenting the sexual abuse of the 14-year-old victim. Digital metadata embedded within the files confirmed that Ford had recorded the illicit material on various dates spanning December 2024 and January 2025.
Federal Authorities Reaffirm Child Protection Mandate
The prosecution was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Leann White and J. Patrick Lamb. Ford remains in federal custody pending his formal sentencing hearing before Judge Haikala, where he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison on each count.
“Children deserve to be protected from those who seek to exploit and abuse them,” U.S. Attorney Phillip W. Williams Jr. said in an official brief. “By pleading guilty, the defendant has admitted responsibility for his crimes and will now be held accountable for the harm he caused the victim.”
Mike Kochanowski, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Birmingham field office, echoed the sentiment, stating, “The exploitation of a child is a heinous crime. Those who prey on children should know this: the FBI will use every available resource to identify you, find you, and hold you accountable.”