Wheeling Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography

 BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – United States Attorney Mike Stuart announced today that Randall Lee Peggs, also known as “Randy Peggs,” 57, of Wheeling, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy to produce child pornography.  Upon completion of his prison sentence, the defendant will serve a 20 year term of supervised release.  Peggs also was ordered to pay $42,900 in restitution to the child victim, which will be joint and several with his codefendant, Elizabeth Haway.  Last month, Haway was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

“Egregious,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “The heinous acts of Peggs and co-conspirator, Elizabeth Haway, have caused lifelong trauma to the young victim in this case.  They will now be behind bars, away from West Virginia children, for the next 15 and 20 years, respectively.”

Peggs previously admitted that he began talking with codefendant Elizabeth Haway, of Princeton, on Facebook in November 2018. Over the course of several months, Peggs and Haway conspired to produce child pornography of a female minor child. The majority of their communications occurred on Facebook Messenger. Peggs encouraged Haway to record and send him nude videos of the female minor child. Ultimately, Haway recorded a video of the female minor child that showed the child nude and sent the video to Peggs via Facebook in February 2019. 

This case was investigated by the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force. Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Kristin F. Scott handled the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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 those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-00304.