Man who filmed himself having sex in airport tower sentenced to prison for child pornography

IDAHO FALLS — A 40-year-old local air traffic controller was sentenced Wednesday to over a decade in prison for distributing child pornography.

Chase Hornaday was sentenced by District Judge B. Lynn Winmill to 12 years in prison, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office.

Hornaday will be placed on supervised release for five years following his prison sentence and was ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

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Hornaday initially pleaded not guilty to five counts of distribution of sexually exploitative material and five counts of possession of sexually exploitative material. In April, the case was moved to federal court, and he was indicted on one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

He accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty on Oct. 23, where he agreed to felony distribution of child pornography in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to remove the remaining count.

According to police reports, a Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office detective, who is also on the Idaho Crimes Against Children Task Force, was assigned a cyber tip on Nov. 27, 2023, regarding images of child sexual abuse material uploaded through Kik, a mobile messaging app.

The detective states that nine videos were uploaded 41 times showing children between the approximate ages of 4 and 15 being raped and engaging in sexual activity.

Investigators tracked the IP address to a home in Ammon and linked the Kik account user information to Hornaday’s phone number.

Detectives conducted surveillance on Hornaday for multiple days, during which time they discovered he worked at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport.

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The detective filed a search warrant for the rest of the Kik account and received the remaining data.

According to the detective’s report, there were ten more videos, one that was the same as in the original findings, showing children between the ages of “less than 4 months old” and 14 years old being raped and engaging in sexual activity.

The detective ultimately found “over 60 images and videos of CSAM in Hornaday’s Kik account that depicted child and infant rape, molestation and sexual abuse.”

Reports also state detectives found over 20 images and videos of Hornaday and a woman “engaging in sexual conduct” in the air traffic control tower at the Idaho Falls Regional Airport.

City of Idaho Falls Public Information Officer Eric Grossarth told EastIdahoNews.com that Hornaday was not a city employee, but a federal contractor who operated the local air traffic control tower.

Kik provided the detective with recent chat messages between Hornaday and other users during November and December. In one message, Hornaday reportedly insinuates that he is going to convince a woman to steal her daughter’s underwear.

“She has a 17-year-old daughter…maybe I could get her to steal a dirty pair of her panties.”

Additionally, Hornaday reportedly talked with users about trading “pedo” images and videos of “yng.” According to court documents, “yng” is a term used when talking about child sexually exploitative material, meaning “young.”

Hornaday was stopped by a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy Wednesday in a parking lot of East 17th Street and arrested on Jan. 10, 2024.

Detectives seized 13 devices from Hornaday, including a Samsung cell phone. On the cell phone, investigators reportedly found over 300 images of child pornography.

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