West Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Distribution and Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Troy Shane Young, 40, of Elkview, West Virginia, pled guilty today to charges of distribution and possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr.; Debra Evans Smith, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Young entered the guilty plea in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Rudolph Contreras scheduled sentencing for March 19, 2013. Young faces up to 20 years in prison on the distribution charge and up to 10 years on the possession charge.

According to the government’s evidence, on August 24, 2012, Young contacted a man he believed to be the father of an underage girl on a social networking site. That man turned out to be an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Over the next few days, Young engaged in electronic communications with the undercover officer. During this period of time, Young sent the undercover officer approximately 10 videos and 22 still images of child pornography. Upon execution of a search warrant on Young’s residence, members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force recovered various computers, external storage devices, and other electronic equipment containing child pornography.

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. 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 those who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Acting Assistant Director in Charge Smith, and Chief Lanier praised the MPD detectives and the special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, who investigated the case, and the special agents of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, who assisted in the execution of the search warrant. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa Johnston and Jennifer Rada of the Southern District of West Virginia, who assisted in the prosecution. Finally, they expressed appreciation to Assistant U.S. Attorney Ari Redbord, who is prosecuting the case.