Christopher Ryan Laws
23-year old Christopher Ryan Laws of Hays was sentenced by Judge Kenneth Bell after he pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of child pornography in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.
According to court records, the offenses occurred from or about Sept. 1, 2018, through on or about May 15, 2019. Laws was charged with distributing child pornography utilizing a computer, the internet and a peer-to-peer computer service.
Laws was ordered to pay almost $20,000 in restitution.
He was initially charged with 54 counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor by the Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent a cybertip concerning Laws to the State Bureau of Investigations Computer Crimes Unit in May 2019. The tip was forwarded to the Wilkes Sheriff’s Office.
Photo: Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office
The Wilkes-Journal Patriot contributed with this story