YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A federal judge Tuesday sentenced a man charged with having child pornography to over 27 years in federal prison.
Jason Huffman, 49, of Youngstown, was sentenced by U.S. Judge Christopher A. Boyko in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio to 328 months in prison on charges of transportation of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of children.
Huffman pleaded guilty April 7.
Huffman was originally charged in state court after his Feb. 17 arrest by members of the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force who served a search warrant at his West Side home as part of a child pornography investigation.
At the time he was arrested, authorities provided almost no information about the charges but the indictment in the federal case said that Huffman had been involved in sending pornographic images of children to others dating back to August of 2015.
He is also accused of enticing a minor in June of 2017 and August of 2019 to pose for a pornographic image that could be sent to someone else, according to the indictment in his case.
His attorney, Walter Camino, asked for a minimum sentence of 15 years in a sentencing memorandum filed last week with the court.
Camino said his client is a victim of childhood sexual abuse and never received treatment for it. Huffman’s wife said he had been suffering from anxiety and depression before he was arrested, and he wants to receive therapy while he is in prison.
His father was killed when Huffman was just two years old by a drunk driver, and his mother died in May, Camino wrote. Since his arrest, his adult son and a sister have also shunned him, Camino wrote.
A sentencing memorandum by the government is not available.