Former BYU-I student gets prison time for sharing child pornography
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REXBURG — A 23-year-old man has been sentenced after he pleaded guilty to sharing child pornography online.
Ryan Pugh was sentenced by District Judge Steven Boyce to a minimum of two and half years and a maximum of 12 and a half years in prison.
He will be required to pay at least $2,591 in court costs and fines and must register as a sex offender.
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Pugh initially pleaded not guilty to three counts of willfully possessing child sexual exploitative material and three counts of felony distribution of child sexually exploitative material.
He later accepted a plea agreement, where he agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony willfully possessing child sexual exploitative material and one count of felony knowingly distributing child sexually exploitative material, in exchange for the prosecution agreeing to dismiss the other counts and recommend no more than a minimum of three years in prison at sentencing.
The investigation into Pugh began in January when a Madison County Sheriff’s deputy received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saying they discovered two files of child pornography that originated in Rexburg on the website Discord, according to court documents.
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Police reports say Pugh was listed as a current BYU-Idaho student at the time of the arrest. University spokesman Brett Crandall tells EastIdahoNews.com Pugh is now a former student.
The deputy searched Pugh’s email and allegedly found another image of child pornography from Dec. 7, originating from Snapchat.
On Feb. 13, the deputy received more information after sending a warrant to Discord, showing conversations between Pugh and other users discussing trading images of child pornography.
According to court documents, Pugh sent a sexual photo of a young girl between the ages of 15 and 17. Another user asks Pugh, “Do you have younger?” and Pugh replies, “Yes. You?” The two then asked to trade photos.
Pugh responded with a video of two young girls between the ages of 13 and 16 acting in a sexual manner.
When asked what types of videos he has, Pugh reportedly replied “teens” between the ages of 15 and 17. He then says, “I have a whole mega folder.” Other conversations show Pugh sharing multiple photos of nude girls.
On March 7, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office served a warrant at Pugh’s home and transported him to be interviewed.
Pugh reportedly admitted the Discord account was his. When asked if the account contained child pornography, he reportedly replied, “Yeah, there will be some.”
When asked about the ages of the children in the images and videos, he reportedly said they were between 14 and 18 years old. He also allegedly admitted to sending child porn to “unknown users.”