Roanoke Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges
Patrick Ragan Admitted to Distributing Images of Child Pornography

ROANOKE, VA—A 41-year-old Roanoke man was sentenced this afternoon in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke on a charge related to the distribution of child pornography.

Patrick S. Ragan, 41, of Roanoke, Virginia, waived his right to be indicted in March 2012 and pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with distributing child pornography. This afternoon in District Court, Ragan was sentenced to 180 months of incarceration and 60 months of supervised release thereafter.

“Mr. Ragan’s continuing effort to obtain and distribute child pornography left a trail of real victims,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “The children depicted are victimized when the images are created and again repeatedly when the images are distributed. Protecting children from this abuse is a priority of the Department of Justice. We will vigorously pursue child exploitation in all its forms and continue to prioritize these cases.”

“Ragan exploited these innocent victims over and over again each time these photos were distributed,” said Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. “Catching and prosecuting despicable criminals like Ragan is part of my office’s ongoing fight to protect Virginia’s most vulnerable citizens.”

“The FBI will aggressively pursue this type of criminal exploitation of children, doing whatever is necessary to keep this a high investigative priority,” said Jeffrey C. Mazanec, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Richmond Division.

The case against Ragan began when an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acting in an undercover capacity, observed the defendant on a popular peer-to-peer file sharing network on the Internet making available images that appeared to be child pornography.

After making direct contact with the defendant’s computer, the undercover agent downloaded 11 files that he determined depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The agent had at least eight subsequent undercover sessions with Ragan during which child pornography was obtained.

After obtaining a search warrant for Ragan’s home, FBI agents discovered the defendant to be in possession of at least 600 images of child pornography, child bondage, and child abuse videos, including spanking videos.

In March, Ragan admitted that he traded child pornography images over peer-to-peer file sharing networks on the Internet.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Charlene Day and Special Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Johnstone of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office are prosecuting the case for the United States.