3 local men guilty of child porn charges

A Charlottesville man and two Louisa County men pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges Thursday.

Ian A. Zearley, 28, of Charlottesville; Mark Chu-rch, 41, of Louisa; and Pat-rick William Kreutzer, 37, of Mineral, each appeared on separate charges in Char-lottesville’s federal court.

Zearley, who has been facing similar charges in Charlottesville, waived his right to a federal indictment and instead pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography and possession of child pornography. According to authorities, an undercover city police officer discovered Zearley was sharing child pornography files through an online file-sharing program. When he’s sentenced, Zearley will face between five and 20 years in prison for the receipt charge and up to 10 years for the possession charge.

Kreutzer, who previously was indicted, pleaded guilty to transporting child pornography and possessing child pornography. Authorities said Kreutzer chatted online with an undercover officer posing as the mother of a 7-year-old girl in hopes of engaging in sexual acts with the child. Kreutzer mailed and sent child pornography images over the Internet during the course of a three-month correspondence. Authorities said that while delivering a search warrant they discovered Kreutzer had sent child pornography to other people online. He will face between five and 20 years in prison on the transportation charge and up to 10 years on the possession charge.

Church also waived indictment and pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. Authorities said a repair technician discovered child pornography on Church’s computer and reported it to police. Under a plea agreement, Church will be sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years of supervised release.

All three cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a federal initiative focused on ending child sexual exploitation and abuse.