MEDFORD, Ore. — A man will spend the next 17 years behind bars for uploading and downloading child pornography, investigators announced.
The Jackson County District Attorney’s Office said in August of 2019, Medford police were involved in an undercover operation into an online child exploitation case. Eventually, detectives determined 55-year-old Christopher Wade Sartin was uploading and downloading images “depicting sexually explicit conduct involving children,” prosecutors said.
The district attorney’s office said during the investigation, a high-resolution image depicting child exploitation was found that showed a thumbprint that matched Sartin, who was already a convicted sex offender. At that point, MPD was able to identify the victim as a local girl under the age of 12.
Sartin was arrested and lodged in the Jackson County Jail in December of 2019 and formally indicted soon thereafter.
Prosecutors announced on December 1, 2020, that Sartin, who has a previous conviction of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, pleaded guilty to three new similar counts. He was sentenced to 17 years and 6 months in prison. He will not be eligible for early release.
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