HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — U.S. Attorney for West Virginia’s Southern District Will Thompson says a Huntington man who admitted to receiving more than 87,000 digital files of child pornography knew he was being investigated but continued to commit the crime.
“We served a search warrant on him and then a few months later he went and did it again,” Thompson said on Tuesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Craig Alexander Halstead, 36, pleaded guilty Monday to receipt of child pornography. He had received the files over three years from Aug. 2019 to Aug. 2022.
Thompson said Halstead could not control his downloading of child porn and did not destroy any evidence.
“A lot of times these people when they’re caught, they try to destroy their computers or ‘throw things in to the river’ for lack of a better term, but this guy didn’t,” he said. “He kept right on downloading until we had to lock him up.”
In May 2021, Halstead possessed 3,970 images and 443 videos on his laptop and external hard drive. In August 2022, Halstead possessed 3,188 additional images and videos of child pornography in Huntington.
More than 400 of those images and videos were of children as young as infants.
“They’re shown in horrific acts, horrific acts being performed on them, them being made to perform horrific acts. It really turns your stomach to look at it,” Thompson said.
The sharing of child porn comes from all over the world, Thompson said.
“People will produce it, place it on their computer and then users from around the world will download it. Unfortunately, it’s a sharing type program where you can look at mine if I can look at yours. It’s very pervasive throughout not only this state, but throughout the country,” he said.
Thompson said, often times in these cases, he tries to see past the psychology behind why a person would produce and distribute child porn. He focuses on the crime itself instead of the addiction.
“I try not to look too far in depth of what makes them do it. I look at the acts they actually did and the acts they do are horrific,” he said.
Halstead faces 5-20 years in federal prison, between 5 years and lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 when he’s sentenced Aug. 21.