Norfolk Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

NORFOLK, VA—James L. Belsha, 41, of Norfolk, Virginia, was sentenced today to 16 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for receipt of child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Royce E. Curtin, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Mark S. Davis.

Belsha pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography on August 21, 2013. According to court documents and proceedings, Belsha was initially identified when law enforcement discovered him sharing child pornography on the Internet via a peer-to-peer file sharing computer program. Pursuant to a search warrant, Belsha was found to be in possession of more than 650 explicit videos of the sexual abuse of minors. Law enforcement also discovered that Belsha had a previous conviction in 1992 for crimes against nature in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court. The 1992 conviction involved the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old minor when Belsha was a Boy Scout leader.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.