17.5 Year Federal Prison Sentence for Wetzel County Man Who Stockpiled Hundreds of Images of Child Sexual Abuse Material

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA - A New Martinsville, West Virginia man was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison for soliciting child sexual abuse material, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey announced

The investigation in this matter began after a social media platform submitted a cyber tip to law enforcement reporting it had identified known child sexual abuse material. Investigators determined that Jon Talkington, 37, had uploaded images and videos of the material to the platform in an effort to obtain additional files from other users. A subsequent search of Talkington's phones and laptops uncovered hundreds of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse material.

"Every offender who trades in this material contributes to the abuse of real children," said U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey. "Offenders who choose to engage in this conduct will be held accountable and removed from our communities for a very long time."

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Perri prosecuted the case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West Virginia State Police investigated.

This case was brought 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 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 Justice.gov/PSC.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.