WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — A registered sex offender was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting and exploiting children in person and online, the U.S. District Court in Columbus announced.
Brian J. Roberts, 44, of Washington Court House, Ohio, sexually abused a 3-year-old boy and distributed child pornography involving infants and toddlers, court documents revealed.
Federal agents launched an investigation into Roberts due to his activities on dark web sites dedicated to child sexual abuse. From November 2022 to August 2023, Roberts exploited the young boy, uploading videos and photos of the abuse. One video, titled “Preview.mp4,” depicted over three minutes of abuse and concluded with the text “NEXT TIME…POTTY FUN!”
Roberts uploaded 195 images to a dark web site, more than 100 of which depicted child sexual abuse of babies and toddlers as young as 3 weeks old, according to court records.
A twice-convicted sex offender, Roberts had prior convictions in Madison and Clark counties. At the time of his arrest, he faced an active warrant in Highland County for telecommunications harassment targeting a family member of the 3-year-old victim in an attempt to contact the child.