Charleston Man, Age 79, Charged with Producing Child Pornography

Raleigh County Man Charged with Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography; Wood County Man Charged with Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

BECKLEY, WV—United States Attorney Booth Goodwin announced today that a Beckley federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Jack E. Gravenmier, 79, of Charleston, with producing child pornography. The indictment charges Gravenmier with two counts of producing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct involving three minors. The indictment alleges that Gravenmier induced the minors, who are referred to only by their initials, into engaging in the sexual conduct so he could produce a visual depiction of that conduct. The indictment also includes a third count charging Gravenmier with possessing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his computer.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of Gravenmier’s house located at 833 Beaumont Road in Charleston as well as a Cutaway van (RV) which were used to commit the alleged crimes set forth in the indictment.

A second federal indictment handed down today charges Steven Russell Helton, 20, of Beaver, Raleigh County, with receiving and possessing hundreds of computer images and videos of child pornography.

A third federal indictment today charges Randall K. Taylor, 47, with failing to register as a sex offender in September 2011 when he moved from Ohio to Rockport, Wood County, West Virginia. Taylor was convicted of a sex offense in Ohio in 1991. He was required to update his registration under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act when he traveled from Ohio to West Virginia.

Gravenmier faces up to 70 years in prison, a $750,000 fine, and lifetime supervised release.

Helton and Taylor each face up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and lifetime supervised release.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation West Virginia Cyber Crimes Task Force, the West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the United States Marshals Service, and the Charleston Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Johnston is charge of the prosecutions.

The indictments were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/wvs/PSCpage.html. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and follow the link named “Resources.”