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Sex Offender Sentenced to 14½ Years After Investigators Find 2,000 Images Involving Minors
WYTHEVILLE, Va. — A 49-year-old man with a previous conviction for attempted sexual battery of a child has been sentenced to 14½ years in federal prison after authorities discovered thousands of illegal images involving minors, prosecutors said.
Christopher Matthew Marsh was sentenced following an investigation that began while he was serving supervised release from a previous federal conviction.
According to court documents, Marsh was convicted in Florida in 1997 of attempted sexual battery of a minor under the age of 12 and received a 13-year prison sentence. The conviction required him to register as a sex offender under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
In 2017, Marsh was convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia for failing to comply with his SORNA registration requirements.
Then, in February 2025, while Marsh was on supervised release, the U.S. Probation Office conducted an unannounced search of his motel room in Wytheville.
The Probation Office and FBI examined the contents of one of Marsh's phones, according to court documents.
Investigators discovered approximately 2,000 inappropriate images involving minors. Authorities also determined that Marsh had used the phone to search the internet for similar images and download them.
The court sentenced Marsh to 14½ years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
He was also ordered to pay $71,500 in restitution to identified victims.
Marsh's prior conviction and subsequent failure to comply with sex-offender registration requirements put him under federal scrutiny. His latest case ultimately resulted in another lengthy federal prison sentence.
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