Urbana Man to Serve 15 Years in Federal Prison for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor

Urbana, Ill. – An Urbana, Ill., man, Talon G. Wright, 39, of the 900 block of East Harding St., was sentenced this afternoon for sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Colin S. Bruce sentenced Wright to a term of 15 years in federal prison and ordered that he remain on supervised release for a period of 10 years following his release from prison.

Wright entered pleas of guilty on May 14, 2015, to the charge of using and coercing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual images of said conduct in late 2011 and early 2012. Further, Wright pled guilty to possession of computer devices containing child pornography on Aug. 1, 2014.  

Since Wright’s arrest on Oct. 27, 2014, he has remained detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly M. Peirson prosecuted the case. The charges were the result of an investigation by the Urbana Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigation, in cooperation with the office of the Champaign County State’s Attorney and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

The case was brought 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 U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.