Federal Jury Convicts Former St. Albans Auxiliary Police Officer of Child Pornography Crimes

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – After two days of trial, a federal jury convicted Billy J. Griffith, 57, of St. Albans, today of receipt of child pornography and possession of prepubescent child pornography.

Evidence at trial showed that on August 24, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Griffith’s Baier Street residence. Officers obtained the search warrant for Griffith’s residence after tracing an Internet Protocol (IP) address that had been used to download multiple digital media files of child pornography. Griffith was an auxiliary officer with the St. Albans Police Department as well as an exterminator, and his wife operated a child daycare at the residence.

Officers seized numerous electronic devices during the search of Griffith’s residence, including an external hard drive, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, and a cell phone. Griffith told officers that the electronic devices were his and that he had sole access to the computers and cell phone through password protections. An analysis found digital media files of child pornography on all four electronic devices, totaling more than 3,000 images and video files.

Griffith is scheduled to be sentenced on September 7, 2023, and faces a mandatory minimum  of five years and up to 20 years in prison, five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Griffith must also register as a sex offender.

United States Attorney Will Thompson and Assistant United States Attorney Julie M. White are prosecuting the case.

“I appreciate the hard work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and our other law enforcement partners in investigating the case and analyzing the evidence,” Thompson said. “My involvement in this trial should show the high priority the office places on cases involving children.”

United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin presided over the jury trial.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and 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. 2:22-cr-218.

###