A Tuscaloosa County man has been sentenced to federal prison for possessing child pornography.

U.S. District Court Judge L. Scott Coogler sentenced 43-year-old Nathaniel David Struening of Buhl to more than 15 years, according to a joint announcement Wednesday by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples.

Struening pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Struening was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution to the child victims. Once released from prison, he will be on supervised release for the rest of his life.

In 2020, the FBI in Milwaukee, in collaboration with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, was investigating numerous groups of individuals engaged in the receipt, possession, distribution and possible production of child sexual abuse material through a proactive operation.

As part of the FBI’s operation, online covert employees documented these illegal activities and forwarded the documentation for further investigation to the appropriate FBI field office.

According to court documents, Struening transported child pornography in a group on the social media application, Kik.

Federal search warrants were obtained for Struening’s Kik account and his residence where several electronic devices were seized.  Additional child pornography was found in his possession.

The FBI Birmingham’s Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case, along with the FBI, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, ALEA, the Homewood Police Department, and the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Leann White prosecuted the case.