Martin County Man Convicted of Producing and Receiving Child Pornography

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - A Beauty, Ky., man was convicted on Wednesday. by a federal jury sitting in Pikeville. of six counts of child pornography-related offenses.

After two hours of deliberation, following a three-day trial, the jury convicted Donald York, 60, for four counts of the production of child pornography and two counts of receiving child pornography.

According to the evidence presented, York used a minor female victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct, for the purpose of producing images of that conduct.  The United States further established that York uploaded some of the victim’s photos to a pornographic website.

York was indicted in June 2022.    

Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Louisville Field Office; Col. Phillip Burnett, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police; and Sheriff John Kirk, Martin County Sherriff’s Office, jointly announced the conviction.

The investigation was conducted by FBI, KSP, and the Martin County Sherriff’s Office.  The United States was represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin Blankenship and Jason Parman.

York will appear for sentencing on August 24, 2023.  He faces a minimum of five years, up to 20 years in prison, on each count of conviction.  However, the Court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal sentencing statutes before imposing a sentence.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

— END —