Two former enlisted soldiers based at Fort Eustis will spend a combined 35 years in federal prison after investigators uncovered their extensive involvement in producing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Hayden Scott Carpenter, 23, and Isaiah Luke Hood, 21, were sentenced this week following a months-long investigation by the Department of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, working out of the Washington Field Office. According to court records, the pair targeted minors on social media from February through April of 2023.
During that time, Carpenter and Hood used online platforms to initiate sexually explicit conversations with underage victims, exchanging graphic content and soliciting images and videos from children. Investigators say they victimized dozens of minors across various platforms.
Hood pleaded guilty to producing CSAM on May 28, 2025, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on October 1. Carpenter, who pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a child in August, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.
Both men were active-duty service members at the time of the offenses.
The Army’s criminal investigators took the lead in uncovering the abuse, but federal prosecutors handled the case in the Eastern District of Virginia.
While there’s relief in seeing justice served, this case is another reminder of the growing dangers children face online—and the responsibility adults have, both in and out of uniform, to protect them.