A 31-year-old Wynne man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of producing child pornography, admitting that he enticed or coerced an 8-year-old girl into performing sexual acts that he recorded and distributed to others.
Joshua Logan Thornton admitted that he made three short videos of himself engaging in sexual acts with the girl, who he told investigators "got a thrill out of being on the Internet," a federal prosecutor told U.S. District Judge Billy Roy Wilson.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant, said investigators learned about the videos in late July, after finding them in the possession of another man who was arrested on a charge of possessing child pornography.
Bryant said a "unique quilt" with orange and yellow butterflies could be seen in the background of the videos and helped lead investigators to Thornton. When agents searched his house Aug. 6, they seized several electronic devices containing about 5,000 images of child pornography, as well as the quilt, Bryant said.
Agents later tracked down the victim, and the girl told officers that the sexual activities between her and Thornton were supposed to be "a secret," Bryant said. Thornton later admitted that he had been engaging in sexual activities with the girl for eight months but had stopped "because of what happened with Jared, the Subway guy," Bryant said.
On Thursday, Jared Fogle of Indianapolis, a former spokesman for the Subway restaurant chain, pleaded guilty to child-pornography charges in a highly publicized hearing in Indiana, admitting he paid for sex with teenage girls and possessed a large amount of child pornography.
Bryant said Tuesday that after Thornton's arrest, investigators intercepted a package of DVDs that he had mailed to someone else, and found that it contained 35 image files and 34 video files of pornography he had produced with the same girl.
Wilson accepted Thornton's plea to the production charge in return for dismissal of two other charges he faced -- distribution and possession of child pornography. Wilson set Thornton's sentencing for Feb. 18.
Metro on 11/25/2015