Description: Cleveland, Ohio criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with Receipt and Distribution of Visual Depictions of Real Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct and Possession of Child Pornography.

In 2022, an Iowa Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigated the peer-to-peer file-sharing network BitTorrent and found Eloshway’s IP address associated with several video files and images containing child sexual abuse material (“CSAM”). Later, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Eloshway’s home, questioned him about downloading pornography, and requested that he consent to a polygraph test regarding the safety of his minor daughter. Eloshway admitted that he had been using BitTorrent for twenty years. He understood that, by usingNo. 24-3977, United States v. Eloshway others. He also admitted to downloading large pornography caches trough BitTorrent, using search terms such as “skinny” and “teen porn,” because he was “sexually stimulated by petite, female body types.” R. 62, PageID 1116. Eloshway was aware that the large files he downloaded contained CSAM.

A grand jury indicted Eloshway for receiving and distributing child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(2), and possessing child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 2252A(a)(5)(B). Before trial, the government and Eloshway’s trial counsel submitted jointproposed voir dire topics, which included probing the jury venire on their opinions about whetheradult pornography should be allowed on the internet. The district court conducted voir dire butallowed the parties to ask relevant questions beyond what it had asked. Eloshway’s attorney askedseveral questions, none of which solicited the prospective jurors’ opinions about adultpornography.

Outcome: The jury convicted Eloshway on both counts. It also returned a special verdict finding that Eloshway possessed an image of a prepubescent minor under twelve years old.

Committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for a period of 121 on counts 1 & 2 to run concurrent; 10 years supervised release on counts 1 & 2 to run concurrent; $200.00 special assessment; $10,000 JVTA assessment; $10,000 restitution

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