Howland man pleads guilty to 18 counts of child porn

Jeffrey Barton

A Howland man has pleaded guilty to a bill of information to 18 counts in a child porn case after his arrest on charges of child porn for a second time in one year on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Barton, 37, of Englewood Street, NE, pleaded guilty to nine counts of pandering sex-oriented material involving a minor, eight counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, and one misdemeanor count of dissemination of private sexual images.

Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) and Howland Police served a search warrant on a home in mid-December near the Howland High School on Monday. They arrested Barton for the second time in a year on child porn allegations.

Barton was indicted in March as part of an investigation into sex crimes involving babies and toddlers.

According to the police report, Howland police took the following items from the home, including: a handheld gaming system, two flip phones, two handheld electronic reading devices and one electronic tablet.

It was discovered that Barton downloaded internet -based child pornography on his electronic devices, Wildman stated, and he also shared private sexual images of females without their consent. Wildman stated none of the charges against Barton involved the production of child pornography.

Barton could face indefinite prison sentences of two to 12 years that may be served consecutively.

Barton is set  to undergo a background investigation conducted by Trumbull County probation officers before sentencing and remains in Trumbull County jail on $250,000 bond.