Chester Man Sentenced 17 Years for Second Offense of Distribution of Child Pornography

RICHMOND, VA—James Yager, 31, of Richmond, Va., was sentenced to 17 years in prison for distributing child pornography after having previously been convicted of child pornography distribution in 2001.   

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jennifer Love, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, made the announcement after sentencing by Senior U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne.

“Prosecuting crimes against children is a high priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “This case should send a strong message to those convicted of exploiting children through pornography: If you return to trading these disturbing images of abuse, we will find you and send you back to prison for a long time.”

Yager served 48 months in prison after pleading guilty on May 2, 2001, to distributing child pornography. According to court documents, in May 2009, Yager engaged in Internet chats with an undercover FBI agent that culminated in Yager making available via a peer-to-peer file sharing program dozens of images of child pornography for the undercover agent to download.  In June 2009, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Yager’s residence and discovered that after having been released from federal probation for his prior conviction, Yager traded hundreds of images of child pornography on the Internet using a peer-to-peer file sharing program that he had configured to allow the sharing of files through a photo card, which contained thousands of images of child pornography. 

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Virginia State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth C. Wu and Special Assistant United States Attorney Lawrence L. Muir, Jr., are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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.usdoj.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.