Three area men arrested in child porn investigation
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By TRAVIS MORSE
tmorse@morningsentinel.com
JEFFERSON COUNTY — Three area men were arrested recently in connection with a child pornography investigation conducted by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The defendants are Marcus W. Leyva, 37, of Woodlawn; Cody J. Shepler, 25, of Mount Vernon; and Leo R. Barnett III, 29, of Mount Vernon. All of them face felony child porn charges.
“I am continually pleased with the work of our Detective Division, especially when it comes to protecting children,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard Monday. “This is a great example of an investigation that continued to add offenders as more evidence was discovered. Captain Jeremy Wilton and his crew of detectives do a stellar job.”
According to a JCSO news release, the sheriff’s office received information on Jan. 8 about the possibility of child porn production occurring. Detectives began looking into the information, which led them to make contact with one of the suspects, Leyva, at his Woodlawn residence.
This contact resulted in Leyva’s arrest and the alleged collection of items of evidence for processing the same day. Leyva was incarcerated in the Jefferson County Jail and detained for trial.
The evidence allegedly collected at Leyva’s residence furthered the investigation, which identified other suspects possibly involved with child porn. Search warrants were obtained for electronic records from multiple sources, the release states.
Upon review of the evidence, Shepler was arrested on March 10, and Barnett was arrested on March 13. Both were incarcerated in the Jefferson County Jail and detained for trial.
According to the Jefferson County State’s Attorney’s Office, Leyva has been formally charged with two counts of Class X felony dissemination of child porn. Shepler and Barnett, meanwhile, were each charged with five counts of Class 2 felony possession of child porn.
All of their cases are pending in Jefferson County Circuit Court. The Sentinel will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.
