COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A 52-year-old Madison County man has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to exploiting children online and sharing child sexual abuse material. 

Donald Adams of Mount Sterling was sentenced to 20 years in prison in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, according to a news release from United States Attorney Kenneth Parker. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually exploiting a minor and two counts of distributing child pornography in May 2023. 

According to court documents, between May and September 2021, Adams made two minor victims believe they were in a romantic relationship with him, and used Snapchat and Google Duo to coerce the victims into sending him child sexual abuse material. 

Adams exploited at least one of the minor victims by directing them to send the sexual abuse material to other online predators. He additionally drove to another state to pick up one of the victims in person, then took the victim to a hotel room for three hours, the news release says. 

In September 2021, Adams sent child sexual abuse material of children aged three to seven years old to an online undercover FBI agent. 

Upon his arrest, law enforcement recovered more than 1,500 images and 2,000 videos of child sexual abuse material, with victims as young as infants and toddlers, according to the news release.

As part of his sentence, Adams will pay restitution to the minor victims he directly exploited, and eight other victims identified in Adams’ child sexual abuse material collection.