Mercer County Man Sentenced To Nine Years In Prison For Possessing Child Pornography

BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – A 54-year old Mercer County man, David A. Punturi, was sentenced today to nine years in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release for possessing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced. Punturi must also pay $2,500 in restitution to victims. Today’s sentence was handed down by Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber in Bluefield. 

Punturi previously admitted that on August 14, 2013, he possessed over 600 images of prepubescent minors engaged in sexual acts. The images were located on his personal computer at his Bluefield residence. The investigation revealed that Punturi was using two peer-to-peer file sharing programs to share child pornography via the Internet.

The West Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department conducted the investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston was in charge of the prosecution.

This case is being brought as part of U.S. Attorney Goodwin’s ongoing initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse in the Southern District of West Virginia.