HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Derick Russell Legg, 48, of Huntington, is headed to federal prison after being sentenced today to six years for the vile crime of receiving child pornography. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers, will be followed by a grueling 15 years of supervised release, and Legg will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Court documents reveal Legg actively sought out this depravity between September 19, 2019, and January 28, 2020, utilizing peer-to-peer file sharing programs to download and possess images and videos of children subjected to sexual exploitation. This wasn’t a passive act; Legg deliberately sought out this material.
When federal agents raided his Huntington residence on or about January 30, 2020, they discovered a staggering cache of abuse: 668 images and 321 videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit acts, all stored on an external hard drive. The sickness didn’t stop there. Legg also possessed additional child pornography on his cell phone, further demonstrating the deliberate nature of his crimes.
The content Legg possessed wasn’t merely exploitative; investigators confirmed many of the images and videos depicted known child victims, including prepubescent minors and children subjected to horrific, sadistic, and masochistic acts. This wasn’t just about images; it was about real children being harmed.
U.S. Attorney Will Thompson announced the sentencing, praising the relentless work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in bringing Legg to justice. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew J. Tessman and Julie M. White skillfully prosecuted the case, ensuring Legg faced the full weight of the law. This case was brought under the umbrella of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative dedicated to dismantling the child sexual exploitation network.
Project Safe Childhood, spearheaded by the Department of Justice, unites federal, state, and local resources to identify, apprehend, and prosecute predators like Legg, while simultaneously working to rescue the victims of this horrific abuse. More information on Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc. A full copy of the press release is available on the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia website, and court documents can be accessed on PACER under Case No. 3:22-cr-40.
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Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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