Robert M. Harvey, a 48-year-old registered sex offender, entered a guilty plea for possession of child pornography in Charleston, West Virginia. The incident occurred on June 29, 2022, at Dismas Charities Inc., a Bureau of Prisons residential reentry facility in St. Albans. Staff discovered Harvey with a cell phone he was not permitted to have without his probation officer's approval.
Upon analysis by law enforcement, the cell phone was found to contain images and videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. As part of his guilty plea, Harvey acknowledged these findings.
Harvey is set for sentencing on August 25, 2025. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and could receive up to 20 years in prison. Additionally, he may face at least five years and potentially a lifetime of supervised release along with a $250,000 fine.
At the time of this offense, Harvey was under supervised release following his conviction for receipt of child pornography on March 12, 2007, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia. He had been sentenced to over 17 years in prison followed by lifetime supervision for that crime. On August 17, 2022, he received an additional three-year prison sentence for committing another crime while on supervised release.
The announcement came from Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston who praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The hearing was overseen by United States District Judge Thomas E. Johnston with Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald prosecuting the case.
This prosecution falls under Project Safe Childhood, an initiative by the Department of Justice aimed at addressing child sexual exploitation and abuse through federal and local collaboration to apprehend offenders and rescue victims.
For further details about Project Safe Childhood or related court documents regarding this case (Case No. 2:25-cr-69), resources are available online through the U.S. Attorney’s Office website for the Southern District of West Virginia and PACER.