West Virginia Man Sentenced to More Than 16 Years in Prison for Distribution of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Lonnie Newhouse, 47, of Beckley, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 16 years and eight months in prison on a charge of distribution of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Newhouse pled guilty to the charge in May 2012 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Beryl A. Howell. Upon completion of his prison term, Newhouse will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He also will be required at that time to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

According to a factual proffer of evidence presented during the plea hearing, on September 6, 2011, an MPD member of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, who was operating undercover and posing as a pedophile as part of the investigation, communicated with Newhouse by instant messenger and telephone. During the course of the communications over the next several weeks, Newhouse sent the undercover officer 11 images and one video of child pornography. Newhouse was arrested on October 13, 2011.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD, with assistance from other law enforcement agencies.

Project Safe Childhood is 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 U.S. 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McJunkin, and Chief Lanier commended the work of all who participated in the investigation. They especially acknowledged the efforts of the MPD Detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended the work of Criminal Investigator John Marsh of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Finally, they expressed appreciation for the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon Marcus-Kurn, who prosecuted the case.