Billy Eggleston, Child Pornography, West Virginia 2023

Child Pornography Ring Exposed in West Virginia

A shocking case of child pornography has come to light in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Billy Eggleston, a 50-year-old resident of St. Albans, pleaded guilty to producing child pornography, a heinous crime that has left the community reeling.

According to court documents, Eggleston induced a prepubescent minor child to engage in sexually explicit conduct on March 26, 2020. The defendant admitted to using his cell phone to take a series of 24 photos of him engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the minor. These disturbing images were taken in Eggleston’s bedroom and later transferred to his desktop computer.

A thorough investigation by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the West Virginia State Police, and the St. Albans Police Department revealed that Eggleston possessed nearly 5,000 videos and images of child pornography on his desktop computer and a memory card on October 21, 2022. The shocking content included images of an adult male sexually assaulting a minor female between four and seven years old, and another image of a minor female between two and four years old subjected to sexually explicit conduct by an adult male.

Eggleston is scheduled to be sentenced on August 3, 2023, and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years in prison, five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. As part of his sentence, Eggleston must also register as a sex offender.

United States Attorney Will Thompson praised the investigative work of the agencies involved and commended the Charleston Area Medical Center (CAMC) Children’s Advocacy Center for their assistance in the case. Assistant United States Attorney Julie White is prosecuting 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 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.

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-3.

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