A former Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child sexual abuse material, officials said Wednesday.
Johnathan Nathaniel Allen, 27, of Chattanooga, posed as a child online and exploited eight minors across the country while serving as a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy, where he had worked since 2021, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Carolina.
U.S. District Judge Sherri A. Lydon also sentenced Allen to 15 years of court-ordered supervision after his release and ordered him to pay $3,000 in restitution to the victim and $4,000 to a victim services fund.
The press release said he will be required to register as a sex offender.
Allen was fired shortly after he was charged in December 2024, and Sheriff Austin Garrett submitted a request to decertify Allen to the state agency that oversees law enforcement officers. That agency voted unanimously to decertify Allen in March 2025.