A three-year prison sentence was handed down to a Staunton man after he pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Thursday afternoon. James Adron Spence, 31, is accused of soliciting a girl for sex, and then using her to make child porn.
Prosecutors say Spence talked a 15-year-old Augusta County girl to send him a series of illicit pictures of herself, during the fall of last year. They claim he had about 15 images of that child pornography on his phone, and showed them to at least one other person.
Thursday, Spence had little to say to the Augusta County judge except, "yes I want the deal." That deal, actually a joint recommendation from both attorneys, will allow Spence to serve only a fraction of the prison time that he could have faced.
A grand jury in April indicted Spence on three felony counts, including soliciting a minor to perform in child porn. He could have faced up to 45 years behind bars for the three convictions.
Spence does have a felony record, but no prior cases involving offenses against children. When he is released from prison, he'll be forbidden to have any unsupervised contact with minors.
