Ava Man Sentenced to 58 Years in Prison for Sexual Exploitation of Two Child Victims

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – An Ava, Mo., man has been sentenced in federal court after images of his repeated sexual assaults of two child victims were discovered by workers while they were demolishing his former residence.

Harold Lloyd Blair, Jr., 67, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark on Thursday, June 20, to 58 years in federal prison without parole.

On Jan. 30, 2024, Blair pleaded guilty to two counts of the sexual exploitation of a minor. Blair has also been implicated in the sexual abuse of two additional child victims.

The investigation began on Dec. 2, 2022, when workers employed by Douglas County, Mo., were tearing down Blair’s former residence after he sold it to the county. The workers discovered a filing cabinet that contained numerous pages of images of a young girl engaged in sexual acts with an older man. The workers contacted the Douglas County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department and Blair was questioned by investigators.

Blair admitted that he was the man portrayed in the photos, which were taken in 2012 and 2013, when the two child victims each were approximately 11 to 12 years old. In total, there were 52 photographs that were taken by Blair with a digital camera and printed from his computer. Blair told investigators that, if he had remembered those photographs were in the house, he would have destroyed them.

Investigators also searched Blair’s storage unit and found more images of child pornography. Investigators found a total of 743 images of child pornography in the house and storage unit, most of which were images of the sexual assault of two child victims.

Blair admitted that he sexually assaulted one of the child victims two to three times a day. Blair showed adult pornography to each of the child victims so they could imitate what was happening in the videos.

Blair also admitted to investigators that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl whom he moved from state to state in an attempt to find a state that would allow him to marry a minor without her parents’ consent. Another victim told investigators that Blair sexually abused her when she was approximately three years old.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Douglas County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, and the West Plains, Mo., Police Department, with assistance from the Douglas County, Mo., Prosecuting Attorney.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."