Published: May 13, 2009 09:12 pm      

Man gets 8 years in child porn case

BLUEFIELD — A Mercer County man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the possession of child pornography.

Terry Leon Blankenship, 40, of Bramwell, was sentenced Tuesday by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston to 100 months imprisonment, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release, according to a press release by U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller.

Blankenship, who previously pled guilty on Dec. 5, 2008, admitted he possessed child pornography.

Miller said the Mercer County Sheriff’s Depart-ment received a report in February 2007 that Blankenship was downloading child pornography from the Internet. Officers reviewed Blankenship’s computer and found what they believed to be child pornography.

A subsequent forensic examination of the computer by the West Virginia State Police revealed over 600 images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the press release said.

Several of the images and videos were identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as depicting known child victims. The examination of Blankenship’s computer also revealed that he had been downloading child pornography using a peer to peer file sharing program on his computer.

Miller said several victims submitted statements detailing the emotional impact suffered not only from the abuse, but also from the dissemination and possession of the images.

The West Virginia State Police, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department jointly conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Karen B. Schommer handled the prosecution. The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood.