William Rhodes, Child Pornography Distribution, Virginia 2023

William Rhodes, a 26-year-old man from Roanoke, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to one count of knowingly distributing, receiving, or attempting to distribute child pornography through a peer-to-peer file sharing network, federal prosecutors announced.

Rhodes, also known as “Billy Rhodes,” “BillRho,” and “hel_yeh1,” admitted to making available thousands of disturbing images of child pornography, many depicting prepubescent females, infants, and toddlers engaged in sexually explicit and sadistic acts. The material was accessible to others on a shared network, where Rhodes also chatted with like-minded individuals about the illicit content.

According to court documents filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey, an undercover FBI task force officer in Texas identified a computer linked to a known IP address on March 23, 2014. The agent downloaded 1,432 files from a torrent tied to hash values associated with child pornography. A follow-up download of 320 additional images occurred on September 10, 2014, by an FBI officer in Richmond—both traced back to the same Roanoke address.

On February 2, 2015, federal and state agents executed a predawn search warrant at the residence. Rhodes, the adult son of the homeowners, was present and acknowledged during a brief interview that he knew why law enforcement had arrived—though he did not explicitly reference the child pornography.

A forensic analysis of Rhodes’ computer, conducted by the Virginia State Police, uncovered digital fingerprints confirming he was responsible for the shared files. Evidence included Skype chat logs showing Rhodes had transmitted videos from the same torrent to another user, further solidifying the case against him.

The investigation was jointly led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Virginia State Police, and Roanoke City Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey and Jessica Urban of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section are prosecuting the case. Acting U.S. Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle praised the swift cooperation between agencies, stating, “I am thankful to the investigators in Texas and Virginia for working quickly and cooperatively in locating this defendant.”