St. Albans Man Sentenced For Possessing Child Pornography

Sunday, November 30, 2025, 7:15 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

CHARLESTON, W.VA.- Last Tuesday, a 49-year-old St. Albans, West Virginia, man, and convicted registered sex offender, found out he will be nearly seventy years old when he gets out of federal prison, after being sentenced for possessing digital images and video files depicting the sexual exploitation and abuse of young children while being housed in a federal reentry facility.

     According to U.S. Attorney Moore Capito, on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, Robert M. Harvey, 49, formerly of St. Albans, West Virginia, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas E. Johnston to 240 months in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, after pleading guilty to Possession of Child Pornography.

According To Charging Documents Filed With The Court

     According to the charging documents filed with the District Court, on June 29, 2022, Harvey was living at Dismas Charities, Inc., a residential reentry facility located in St. Albans, West Virginia. On that date, facility staff members found Harvey to be in possession of a cellular phone. As part of the terms and conditions of the facility, Harvey was not allowed to possess a cellular phone without the approval of his probation officer, and any phone was subject to search and seizure.

     A forensic examination of Harvey’s seized cellular device uncovered digital images and video files of child pornography. During his plea allocution, Harvey admitted that he possessed the cellular phone and that the digital images and video files depicted prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

     At the time of the instant offense, Harvey was on supervised release as a result of his March 12, 2007, conviction out of the Southern District of West Virginia, for Receipt of Child Pornography. For that conviction, Harvey was sentenced to 210 months in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for the offense. On August 17, 2022, following his arrest on the instant offense, Harvey was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for violating the terms and conditions of his supervised release.

     Harvey’s prior criminal history also includes a felony conviction for Possession of Child Pornography back in April 2000 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

     “When you steal a child’s safety, you forfeit your freedom,” said U.S. Attorney Capito. “My office fought for the maximum penalty in this case. Anyone who targets a child will face the full force of our justice system. I strongly believe we have a duty to protect our children, and the public demands no less. I am committed to pursuing child predators with every tool the law allows, there is no refuge, no excuse, and no mercy for those who prey on our children.”