Charles William Lourett Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A 62-year-old Cross Lanes man admitted in federal court today that he received and distributed graphic child pornography using peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Charles William Lourett pled guilty to one count of receiving child pornography, marking a grim chapter in a years-long digital trail of exploitation.

Lourett confessed that on September 22, 2016, he received a video depicting a prepubescent minor engaged in explicit sexual acts. The file was downloaded directly to a computer at his residence. Investigators from the West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force uncovered that Lourett used file-sharing networks not only to receive but also to distribute illegal material across the web.

During the investigation, authorities discovered more than 600 images and videos of minors involved in sexual conduct on Lourett’s devices. The evidence painted a disturbing picture of systematic consumption and sharing of child sexual abuse material, with files actively seeded and made available to others online.

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart made no apologies in his condemnation of the crime. “We have no tolerance for predators or these disgusting crimes,” Stuart said. “We will use every tool at our disposal to aggressively prosecute those who use the Internet to target and exploit children.”

Lourett now faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in federal prison. He will be sentenced on May 22, 2018, before U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. Upon release, he must register as a sex offender and serve a supervised release term of at least five years—potentially for the rest of his life.

The case is being prosecuted under Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative targeting child sexual exploitation. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, the program unites federal, state, and local agencies to hunt down offenders and rescue victims. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa G. Johnston and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald are handling the prosecution.