Parkersburg Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Child Pornography Crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Jon Ryan LaFever, 29, of Parkersburg, was sentenced today to 25 years in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, for production of child pornography. LaFever must also register as a sex offender.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on or about March 16, 2023, LaFever posted a picture of a minor female on the Kik instant messaging mobile app. LaFever received a direct message after posting the photo from Kik user asking about the minor female. LaFever admitted that he messaged the user that the minor female was a 7-year-old girl to whom he had access. LaFever further admitted that he sent the user several additional photos through direct messaging. The photos included one image of the minor female in her underwear and with her legs spread open, and two images of a minor female's nude genital area.

LaFever also admitted to sending two videos of the minor female to the Kik user. In both videos, LaFever touches the minor female's buttocks while she was asleep on a bed, attempts to pull her shorts and underwear aside to expose her genital and pubic area, and stops when she appears to be waking up.

On March 20, 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant of LaFever's Parkersburg residence. Officers seized LaFever's cell phone during the search and a forensic analysis found it stored several images and videos depicting the minor female on a bed in his residence. LaFever admitted to creating the images and videos with his cell phone. The videos included two of the minor female that LaFever created with his cell phone on March 6, 2023.

LaFever admitted to officers that he sent the videos on the Kik app. LaFever told officers that he had made approximately 50 images or videos of the minor female while she was asleep in her underwear. LaFever took steps to medicate the minor female and an adult present in the residence to ensure his nighttime sexual abuse of the minor female would not be discovered. LaFever distributed these images and videos of the minor female to other pedophiles in online forums in exchange for child pornography depicting the abuse of other children from around the world.

LaFever admitted to possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his phone and an online file-storage account, and that some of this child pornography depicted prepubescent minors. LaFever further admitted that the two close-up nude images that he had sent the Kik user were not of his minor female victim, but were cropped from the prepubescent child pornography he possessed.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the West Virginia State Police.

United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald prosecuted the case.

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 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.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:23-cr-199.

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