Ava man sentenced for sexual exploitation of two children

An Ava man has been sentenced in federal court after images of his repeated sexual assaults of two child victims were discovered by workers while they were demolishing his former residence.

On Thursday, June 20, Harold L. Blair Jr., 67, was sentenced to 58 years in federal prison without parole by U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark.

On Jan. 30, 2024, Blair pleaded guilty to two counts of the sexual exploitation of a minor. He has also been implicated in the sexual abuse of two additional children.

The investigation began on Dec. 2, 2022, when Douglas County employees were tearing down Blair’s former residence after he sold it to the county. The workers discovered a filing cabinet that contained numerous pages of images of a young girl engaged in sexual acts with an older man. The workers contacted the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department and Blair was questioned by investigators.

Blair admitted that he was the man portrayed in the photos, which were taken in 2012 and 2013, when the two victims each were approximately 11 to 12 years old. In total, there were 52 photographs that were taken by Blair with a digital camera and printed from his computer. Blair told investigators that if he had remembered those photographs were in the house he would have destroyed them.

Investigators also searched Blair’s storage unit and found more images of child pornography. Investigators found a total of 743 images of child pornography in the house and storage unit, most of which were images of the sexual assault of two child victims.

Blair admitted that he sexually assaulted one of the children two to three times a day. Blair showed adult pornography to each of the victims so they could imitate what was happening in the videos.

Blair also admitted to investigators that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl whom he moved from state to state in an attempt to find a state that would allow him to marry a minor without her parents’ consent. Another victim told investigators that Blair sexually abused her when she was approximately three years old.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Wan. It was investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and the West Plains Police Department, with assistance from the Douglas County Prosecuting Attorney.

PROJECT SAFE CHILDHOOD

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the United States Attorneys’ 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 individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on “resources.”

The post Ava man sentenced for sexual exploitation of two children appeared first on Houston Herald .