Six years after a Canton man was arrested on sexual exploitation of children charges, he learned his fate: four years in prison and 16 years on probation, the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Jonathan David Ellis, 39, was investigated by the sheriff’s office for downloading and distributing child pornography via a peer-to-peer network, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The investigation found that Ellis downloaded sexually explicit media of children as young as 9 years old. The media was stored on external hard drives, a laptop and a desktop computer, according to a news release.
“Innocent children in sexually explicit media are revictimized every single time the images and video are shared by people like Mr. Ellis — a truly heartbreaking fact,” Assistant District Attorney Meaghan Frankish, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement. “The evidence in this case clearly showed this defendant has a sexual interest in children and needs to be closely monitored.”
At trial, the prosecution showed how Ellis possessed and shared as many as 35 erotic images of children through the peer-to-peer network.
“The jury carefully sifted through testimony and evidence to convict this defendant,” District Attorney Shannon Wallace said in a statement. “It is essential that sick individuals like this defendant be prosecuted and sentenced to ensure the protection of our children, in Cherokee County and beyond.”
While on probation, Ellis will be under sex offender special conditions and will not be allowed to have contact with anyone under the age of 18.
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