Jury Convicts Clermont County Man of Producing, Receiving, Possessing Child Pornography, Obscene Images of Child Sexual Abuse

CINCINNATI – A United States District Court jury convicted David Guy, 61, of New Richmond, Ohio of 11 counts of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, one count of attempted production of child pornography, three counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Clermont County Sheriff Tim Rodenberg and other members of the Regional Electronic Computer Investigations Task Force including Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil and Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Isaac, announced the verdict reached Friday, which was returned following a trial that began on February 29 before U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

Guy used Photoshop to create hundreds of visual depictions using 11 different minor victims by placing the children’s faces into images of very graphic adult and child pornography. In addition, Guy attempted to produce child pornography when he took a photo of one minor, posing the child on her hands and knees and exposing her bottom. 

A search of computers seized from Guy’s residence revealed the extent of his child pornography collection. Guy’s images included depictions of the sexual bondage of children less than five years of age, bestiality, lascivious exhibition, among many other graphic and violent images. 

According to court testimony, Guy claimed that the over 25,000 images of child pornography he received and possessed were inspiration for his art. He claimed, through counsel, that the hundreds of images of graphic child pornography he Photoshopped were merely art.

Guy also claimed that the government was to blame for attempting to sensor his work, which was rebutted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Oakley during rebuttal.

“May we never live in a society where the vile images you have seen during the course of this trial becomes the ‘community standard,’” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy L. Muncy told the jury during closing argument. 

The jury convicted Guy with the 16 counts he was charged with after less than an hour of deliberation.

Obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children is a crime punishable by not less than five years and up to 20 years in prison. Production of child pornography carries a sentence ranging from 15 to 30 years in prison. Receipt of child pornography carries a sentencing range from 5 to 20 years and possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Stewart commended the cooperative investigation by agents and officers of the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, the Regional Electronic Computer Investigations Task Force, which is comprised of officers from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Cincinnati Police Department, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christy L. Muncy and Timothy D. Oakley, who prosecuted the case.