Fayette County registered sex offender sentenced to 30 years in federal prison

A registered sex offender was sentenced in U.S. District Court last week to 360 months (30 years) in prison for sexually assaulting, exploiting and victimizing children both in person and online.

Brian J. Roberts, 44, of Washington Court House, sexually abused a young boy and shared child pornography of infants and toddlers.

According to court documents, federal agents began investigating Roberts because of his activity across various dark web sites dedicated to the sexual abuse of children.

Roberts sexually exploited a toddler from November 2022 until August 2023 and uploaded videos and photos of the abuse.

The defendant also uploaded 195 images to one dark web site.

Roberts was a twice-convicted sex offender at the time of his online conduct. He has prior convictions in Madison and Clark counties and, at the time of his arrest, had an active warrant in Highland County for telecommunications harassment toward a family member of the victim based on his alleged attempts to contact the child.

Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Jared Murphey, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Detroit, announced the sentence imposed by Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah D. Morrison. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Czerniejewski is representing the United States in this case.