1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

April 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Greenwood Resident Indicted on Child Pornography
Charges and Tampering with a Witness

WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA — A 32 year old Greenwood, West Virginia, resident was named in an Indictment returned on April 5, 2011, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Wheeling, West Virginia.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II, announced that BRIAN C. JENKINS was named in a five-count Indictment. Count One through Three of the Indictment allege that JENKINS used, persuaded, and enticed a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions on September 29, 2009, in New Martinsville, West Virginia; and on April 19 and 21, 2010, in Cameron, West Virginia. Counts Four and Five of the Indictment allege that JENKINS, aided and abetted by a person known to the grand jury, knowingly used intimidation and engaged in misleading conduct toward another person with the intent to influence and prevent the testimony of any person in any official proceeding on November 4, 2010, and December 8, 2010, in Greenwood, Doddridge County, and Marshall County, West Virginia.

If convicted, JENKINS faces a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 each on Counts One through Three of the Indictment; and a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 each on Counts Four and Five of the Indictment.

This case is being prosecuted 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Perri. The case was investigated by the New Martinsville Police Department and the West Virginia State Police.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.