MAHONING COUNTY, Ohio - 41-year-old Christopher Helmick will spend 23 years and three months behind bars for possessing more than 2,700 images and videos of children being sexually abused. Helmick was also found to have been using social media to receive and distribute the files.

According to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David Toepfer, the Youngstown-native was sentenced in federal court on Thursday after pleading guilty to the charges back in December 2025; the charges included Receipt and Distribution of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct, and to Possession of Child Pornography, also known as Child Sexual Abuse Materials (CSAM).

Officers seized several electronic devices from Helmick’s home while executing a search warrant in July 2024. In analyzing the devices, investigators found “1,898 images and 848 videos that depicted the sexual abuse of infants and the torture and rape of prepubescent children,” the U.S. Attorney said in a statement.

Investigators also found Helmick had been communicating with underage girls through social media platforms, befriending them and then giving them his credit card number to buy sex toys and lingerie. The 41-year-old sent explicit photos of himself to the minors and “manipulate” the girls into doing the same.

The investigation was led by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and the FBI Youngstown Resident Agency.