HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marlon Leftwich, 46, of Huntington, was sentenced today to 20 years and six months in prison, to be followed by 20 years of supervised release, for production of child pornography. Leftwich must also register as a sex offender. The Court will determine restitution at a later date.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on June 24, 2025, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Leftwich's residence and seized numerous electronic devices including a cell phone and SD memory card. A forensic review found approximately four files on the memory card and approximately 666 files on the cell phone, of images and videos depicting sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

As part of his guilty plea, Leftwich admitted that the child pornography included a video of him persuading a five-year-old minor female to engage in sexually explicit conduct with him at his Huntington residence while he recorded the conduct using a cell phone. Leftwich further admitted that he recorded the child sexual abuse material on or about January 1, 2016, and transferred the video file to the memory card.

"This defendant inflicted an unspeakable horror upon a five-year-old child, and today's sentence brings nearly a decade of delayed justice to an end. Through the hard work of our prosecutors in the Southern District of West Virginia and our partners in the FBI, he will now serve a prison sentence that protects our community from further harm," said United States Attorney Moore Capito. "Those who prey on children should make no mistake: this office will pursue them, prosecute them, and fight to put them behind bars. Protecting children is one of our highest responsibilities, and we will continue our relentless efforts to hold those who exploit them accountable."

Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Gabriel Price prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACERLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. by searching for Case No. 3:25-cr-132.

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