Boone County Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Gregory Neal Hager, 40, of Madison, pleaded guilty on October 7, 2025, to possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on December 7, 2023, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hager’s residence in Madison and seized an external hard drive connected to his desktop computer. A forensic examination of the external hard drive revealed 146 images and six videos of child pornography depicting a pubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. As part of his guilty plea, Hager admitted that the images and videos of child pornography were screen captures from Snapchat conversations between himself and the minor, that he saved the child pornography on the external hard drive, and that he knew the minor was under 18 years old.

Hager is scheduled to be sentenced on January 14, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Hager must also register as a sex offender.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the West Virginia State Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Lesley C. Shamblin is prosecuting 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 PACER by searching for Case No. 2:25-cr-94.

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