Charleston Man Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Possession of Child Pornography

CHARLESTON, WV—U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a Charleston man pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of child pornography. Jonathan Douglas Layne, 54, admitted that on February 21, 2008, he knowingly possessed on his computer more than 600 images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, that is, actual or simulated sexual intercourse and the lascivious exhibition of the genitals and pubic areas of the minors. Layne admitted that he knew the images and videos constituted child pornography. The defendant also admitted that many of the images depicted prepubescent minors. Layne lived in St. Albans, West Virginia at the time the crime occurred.

Layne also admitted that in or about October 1987, he committed two or more crimes involving sexual abuse of a minor. Layne was previously convicted in June 1989 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, of first-degree sexual abuse involving a minor.

Layne faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison because of his previous conviction in 1989 in the Circuit Court of Kanawha County of first degree-sexual abuse involving a minor. Layne also faces a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on May 2, 2013, by United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr.

The U.S. Marshals Service, the West Virginia State Police, the West Virginia State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation West Virginia Cyber Crimes Task Force conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Johnston is in charge of the prosecution.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/wvs/PSCpage.html. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and follow the link named “Resources.”