Amelia Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing and Receiving Child Pornography

CINCINNATI – Jerry Wilkinson, 42, of Amelia, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court today to receiving and distributing child pornography by using a peer-to-peer file-sharing Internet application to locate, download, distribute and view it.                                                                                                

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Field Division, Steve Francis, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Amelia Police Chief Jeff Wood, Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot K. Isaac, Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil and agencies participating in the Regional Electronics Computer Investigations (RECI) Task Force announced the plea entered before U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

Wilkinson pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography, a crime punishable by at least five years and up to 20 years in prison. The law also requires him to pay restitution to the victims of the crime and to forfeit the computer equipment, storage media and files related to the crimes.

Court documents say Wilkinson committed the crimes between January and October 2017 when agents and task force officers arrested him. In the plea agreement, Wilkinson acknowledged that he had been viewing, downloading and trading child pornography over the past ten years. He possessed more than 500 videos and 8,000 images of child pornography when agents arrested him. Wilkinson also had printed images of child pornography which he printed at the public library from thumb drives he had containing the images.

Judge Dlott will schedule sentencing following an investigation by the court.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation by the FBI, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Kyle Healey, who is representing the United States in this case. 

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