Blawnox Man Pleads Guilty & Sentenced To Two Decades For Production Of Child Pornography

Tuesday, January 20, 2026, 7:00 A.M. ET. 1 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

PITTSBURGH, PA.- Last Tuesday, a 60-year-old Blawnox, Pennsylvania, man learned he could die in federal prison after being sentenced for coercing, enticing, and inducing a child to create sexually explicit digital images and video files of themselves, for the purpose of creating child pornography.

     According to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti, on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, James Muir, 60, of Blawnox, Pennsylvania, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon to two counts of the Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.

     Following entering his guilty plea, Judge Bissoon immediately sentenced Muir to 240 months in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

     According to the charging information filed with the District Court, on or around October 19, 2022, Muir induced a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing video files and digital images of child pornography. Muir then distributed the child pornography to another individual through text messaging.

     First Assistant U.S. Attorney Rivetti commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pittsburgh Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the Allegheny County Police Department, and the Blawnox Borough Police Department, which led to the successful prosecution of Muir.