Columbia County soldier sentenced to more than a decade for distributing child pornography
A Columbia County man who served in the U.S. Army was recently sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison after uploading sexually explicit images of children to the internet.
Joshua Paul Barnhill, 41, of Martinez, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after previously pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography.
U.S. District Court Judge Dudley H. Bowen also ordered Barnhill to pay restitution of $21,000, register as a sex offender and serve 15 years of supervised release upon completion of his prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The former staff sergeant in the U.S. Army served as a recruiter operating from Fort Jackson, S.C., according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Fort Gordon officials confirmed Barnhill worked at a local recruiting station in the Augusta area before being assigned to Fort Jackson.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent a CyberTip to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about sexually explicit images and videos of children shared by the KIK internet messaging app, according to the release.
After learning the images originated from Barnhill’s location, investigators searched his home in October 2022, according to previous reporting.
Investigators found hundreds of images and videos on Barnhill's devices, which he used to upload images to the KIK and Wickr applications, according to the release.
"Joshua Barnhill shared sexually explicit images of young children to online messaging applications for exploitation by other viewers," said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. "Such exploitative conduct has earned him substantial prison time."
Anyone with information on suspected child sexual exploitation can contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 or https://report.cybertip.org/.
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This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Columbia County soldier sentenced for distributing child pornography
