COLUMBUS, Ohio – A United States District Court jury convicted Joshua D. Chapman-Sexton, 31, of Buckeye Lake, Ohio, of all counts, which include receipt and possession of child pornography. Chapman-Sexton had been previously convicted of similar federal charges in 2010 and had been released from prison after serving his sentence. He was on supervised release when he committed the new offenses.
Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer, Buckeye Lake Police Chief Jimmy Hanzey and members of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force announced the verdict reached yesterday evening, which was returned following a trial that began on February 6 before U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.
According to court documents and testimony, a thumb drive in Chapman-Sexton’s Playstation contained more than 700 images of children engaged in sexual activity.
Despite the defendant’s claim that he had been set up and the child pornography was planted on the device when it was stolen on February 28, 2016, forensic evidence revealed that the child pornography had been downloaded continuously from July 2014 until February 27, 2016.
Chapman-Sexton was indicted by a federal grand jury of two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography on July 21, 2016.
Receipt of child pornography in this case is punishable by a range of 15 to 40 in prison per count because of Chapman-Sexton’s prior conviction. Likewise, because of the prior conviction, possession of child pornography in this case includes a potential maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Heather A. Hill and Jessica W. Knight. It was investigated by FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force.