Kanawha County Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography That He Produced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 21, 2014 |
CHARLESTON, WV—United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that a 40-year-old Kanawha County man who possessed sexually explicit images of children, including images that he produced himself, pleaded guilty today. Stephen Wayne Laton, Jr. pleaded guilty in federal court in Charleston before United States District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. to possession of child pornography. In February 2013, Laton was caught possessing images and videos of child pornography, including sexually explicit pictures and video of a minor female relative that he had taken himself. Laton faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on August 6, 2014.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West Virginia State Police conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada is in charge of the prosecution.
This case is being brought as part of U.S. Attorney Goodwin’s ongoing initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse in the Southern District of West Virginia.