Barbourville Woman Sentenced For Sex Offenses Involving a Minor - Co-Conspirator Dead

From the US Dept of Justice, London, Ky. -

A Kentucky woman, 31-year-old Raven Broughton-Jones of Barbourville, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Wier to 25 years in prison for the production of child pornography. 

According to her plea agreement, on January 5, 2024, Broughton-Jones used a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct - which Broughton-Jones herself participated in - for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct. 

Under federal law, Broughton-Jones must serve 85 percent of her prison sentence. Upon her release from prison, she will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 10 years.

Co-conspirator, Steven Carter, had been charged with rape - 1st degree, incest, possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under twelve, and use of a minor in a sexual performance under sixteen, but was later killed by troopers.

WNKY reported that Kentucky State Police Critical Incident Response Team was requested to assist an investigation into a trooper-involved shooting that happened just before 5 p.m. Monday, February 24, 2025. CIRT detectives responded to the scene and began an investigation into the incident.

According to a preliminary investigation, troopers say they arrived at 635 Hubbs Hollow Road in Knox County on the 24th to assist the Barbourville Police Department with executing an active arrest warrant on Carter. Shortly after arriving, troopers say Carter was found behind the residence with a firearm.

Authorities say they gave verbal commands for Carter to drop the weapon but he didn't. Instead he pointed the supposed weapon at them and a trooper fired his agency-issued firearm, fatally wounding Carter.

The Knox County coroner pronounced Carter dead at the scene.

Paul McCaffrey, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Colin Jackson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Chief Greg Lucas, Barbourville Police Department, jointly announced the conviction.

The investigation was conducted by HSI and Barbourville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Blankenship is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.