A man who created and participated in child pornography was sentenced on Wednesday to life in federal prison without the possibility of parole for making sexually explicit materials involving at least 20 children.
Prosecutors said Arlan Wesley Harrell, of Hawthorne, Calif., joined an online bulletin board in 2016 where he advertised child sexual abuse materials involving children under the age of five.
Harrell, and his co-defendants, John Brinson, Jr. and Moises Martinez, accessed the online bulletin through Tor, a network designed to keep communication over the internet anonymous, prosecutors said.
Harrell, 27, created and engaged in the child pornography that exploited 20 children, some of whom were infants, investigators said.
He pleaded guilty on July 7 to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, obtaining custody of a minor for the purposes of producing pornography, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.
Martinez, 31, of San Jose, Calif., also was sentenced in September to 55 years in prison. Brinson, 28, of Fresno, Calif., is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22.
Another co-defendant, Keith Lawniczak, 57, of Fresno, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child in 2019 and was sentenced in Aug. 2020 to 12 years in prison.