A Westerville man is facing at least 15 years in prison after being convicted of sexually abusing a 5-year-old.
Twenty-eight-year-old Christopher Sammons was convicted by a jury last week on four counts related to creating child pornography of his sexual abuse of the victim, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
According to court documents and testimony, an undercover FBI agent in Arkansas received messages from Sammons in March 2019 regarding sexual interest in children.
Throughout their conversations, Sammons encouraged the agent to “just make some homemade stuff” when discussing the availability of child pornography.
Sammons detailed sexually abusing the then 5-year-old victim and offered to share her. He then sent the agent child pornography files and suggested plans for the two to exchange videos of them sexually abusing minors.
The investigation was forwarded to FBI Columbus and an officer began communicating with Sammons who said he had been sexually abusing the victim for a year.
Sammons was charged in April 2019 and taken into federal custody.
The jury convicted Sammons of one count sexually exploiting a minor (punishable by 15 to 30 years in prison), two counts of making a notice for child pornography (15 to 30 years in prison) and one count of distributing child pornography (five to 20 years in prison).
Sammons will be sentenced at a future hearing.
