A South Carolina man was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes involving children, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Justin Allen Chavis pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor and the production of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.
There is no parole in the federal system.
The 27-year-old Williston resident’s prison sentence will be followed by 20 years of supervision, restitution to be paid to two victims, and he has to register as a sex offender, according to the release.
Chavis engaged in sexual acts with two children and produced photographs and videos of the abuse, which he then distributed through the internet, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
On April 2, 2020, Chavis communicated over the internet with a person he was told was another adult interested in abusing children, but was actually an undercover FBI agent, according to the release. The pair discussed past and future abuse of multiple children, and Chavis described himself as “active” with numerous children under the age of seven, describing specific sex acts he had coerced his victims to engage in, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Chavis then began sharing photographs and videos of what appeared to be him sexually abusing children, according to the release.
In one day, the FBI determined Chavis’ identity and obtained an arrest warrant and a federal search warrant for his residence, where it recovered photographs and videos of the abuse from Chavis’s phone, and Chavis made admissions regarding his conduct, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Chavis has remained in custody since that day, according to the release.
The case was investigated by the FBI with critical assistance from the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Department of Social Services.
Chavis was also arrested in April 2020 on state charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor, Barnwell County court records show. In January, those charges were dismissed and Chavis was not indicted, according to court records.
