Justin L. Wiegand, 34, of Kenova, West Virginia, pleaded guilty today to receipt of child pornography.
“Sexual exploitation of children is one of the worst and most damaging crimes in our country,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Those who participate in these crimes damage lives, rob innocence, and create emotional wounds that last a lifetime. Whether you produce child sexual abuse material (CSAM), distribute it, or access it via subscriptions to messaging apps, we will find and prosecute you subject to mandatory minimum penalties, as in the case of this repeat offender.”
“This predator admitted to continuing his horrific crimes against children even while serving a sentence for statutory rape,” said U.S. Attorney Moore Capito for the Southern District of West Virginia. “Our office remains steadfast and unrelenting, working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect our children and communities from such heinous and abhorrent offenses.”
“This case demonstrates how DSS leverages its global footprint to protect vulnerable victims and works with law enforcement partners on complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations,” said Deputy Assistant Director William Ferrari of the Office of Investigations for the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). “Every day, DSS works alongside U.S. and international partners to investigate cases like this, protect victims, and safeguard U.S. interests at home and abroad.”
According to court documents and statements made in court, in December 2023, Wiegand contacted a user on an instant messaging app who provided Wiegand with options for purchasing videos and links to files depicting CSAM. The options included “Cp,” “Kids,” and “Young Girls.” As part of his guilty plea, Wiegand admitted that he ordered a package from the Young Girls and Kids options that included approximately 160 videos and links to four folders on an online file hosting service containing over 50 gigabytes of CSAM. Wiegand further admitted that the videos sent to him depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including adult males having sexual intercourse with prepubescent females. Wiegand paid the messaging app user $25 for the package via an online payments system. At the user’s direction, Wiegand messaged a different messaging app account that provided Wiegand with the videos and online links he purchased.
Wiegand purchased CSAM from the same and other messaging app users on at least eight other occasions between December 2023 and January 2025. Wiegand requested such content as “young girls cp” and asked if the user had rape videos during these transactions. Wiegand also set up a hidden camera in a bathroom at his residence and recorded a video of an approximately 10-year-old girl undressing until she was nude and taking a shower. The video was saved on one of Wiegand’s cell phones no later than July 29, 2025. Wiegand possessed numerous images and videos of CSAM on his cell phones, including depictions of prepubescent minors engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex with adults. Wiegand saved some of these images and videos using a private cloud storage service, including at least two images depicting an approximately 14-year-old girl displaying her nude genital area.
Wiegand was previously convicted of two counts of third-degree sexual assault in Wayne County Circuit Court on May 5, 2023. As part of today’s guilty plea, Wiegand admitted that his victim in that case is the approximately 14-year-old girl depicted in the CSAM on the private cloud storage service. Wiegard also admitted that he was serving a term of home confinement for those convictions at the time of his current offense.
Wiegand is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 23 and faces a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
DSS investigated the case with the assistance of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the West Virginia State Police.
Trial Attorney Kaylynn Foulon of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald for the Southern District of West Virginia are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
