Lawrence man convicted of federal child porn charges

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

ASHLAND — A Lawrence County man was convicted Thursday by a federal jury in Ashland of 11 counts of child pornography charges and is scheduled for formal sentencing before U.S. District Judge, David Bunning Oct. 18.

Dale Allen Fraley, 49, was convicted of five counts of production, four counts of receipt, one count of distribution and one count of possession of a matter containing visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, according to a release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“According to the evidence at trial, Fraley used various online ‘personas’ to induce, persuade, or coerce minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct, for the purpose of producing visual depictions of that conduct,” the release said. “Fraley, acting through the online ‘personas,’ would threaten minor females to engage in various sexual acts and to record that activity, or send the images to him ‘live’ via Skype or other applications. He also persuaded the minors to come to his home, sometimes at the behest of the online ‘personas,’ to get ‘sexual experience’ with Dale Fraley as the teacher.”

Fraley faces a maximum of 30 years in prison for each count of production, 20 years for each count of receipt and distribution of child pornography, and 10 years for possession of child pornography. But the court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal sentencing statutes before imposing the sentence.

Fraley was indicted in October of 2019, with a Superseding Indictment being returned in September of 2020.