COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A two-time registered sex offender from Fayette County, Ohio, will serve three decades in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing and exploiting minors as young as 3 weeks old.

In February, Brian Roberts, 44, admitted to sharing child pornography of infants and toddlers and sexually abusing a young boy, according to federal prosecutors. A judge sentenced Roberts, of Washington Court House, to 30 years in prison, 20 years shy of the possible maximum – 30 years for sexual exploitation and 20 years for child pornography possession.

The sentencing ends an investigation that began in 2022 when federal agents began observing activity on the dark web dedicated to the sexual abuse of children. Between November 2022 and August 2023, Roberts sexually exploited an approximately 3-year-old boy and uploaded hundreds of photos showing abuse.

One video showed more than three minutes of Roberts abusing a child. He then uploaded 195 photos to the dark web, including more than 100 focusing on the sexual abuse of toddlers and infants as young as 3 weeks old.

Roberts is now a three-time convicted sex offender, with prior convictions in Madison and Clark counties. He also had a warrant in February out of Highland County for telecommunications harassment toward a family member of the 3-year-old boy based on his alleged attempts to contact the child.

In 2000, Roberts was sentenced to six months in prison and five years of community control. Guilty of pandering obscenities involving a juvenile in Madison County, he became a registered sex offender.

Ten years later, he was convicted of the same crime and was sentenced to five years in prison, registering as a Tier II sex offender.