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WHEELING – A New Martinsville man has been sentenced to 210 months in federal prison for soliciting child sexual abuse material, U.S. Attorney Matthew L. Harvey of the Northern District of West Virginia said in a news release Tuesday.

The investigation began after a social media platform submitted a cyber tip to law enforcement reporting it had identified known child sexual abuse material, Harvey said.

Investigators determined that Jon Talkington, 37, New Martinsville, had uploaded images and videos of the material to the platform in an effort to obtain additional files from other users, Harvey said. A subsequent search of Talkington’s phones and laptops uncovered hundreds of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse material, according to the release.

“Every offender who trades in this material contributes to the abuse of real children,” Harvey said. “Offenders who choose to engage in this conduct will be held accountable and removed from our communities for a very long time.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Perri prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the West Virginia State Police investigated.

U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey presided.

This case was brought under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.