A Catawba, Virginia man was sentenced on Jul. 28 to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to sexually exploit a 15-year-old child.
Jacob Ryan Barnett, age 35, was arrested in August 2025 and pleaded guilty in December of that year to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. According to court documents, Barnett began communicating with the victim on May 18, 2025, via TikTok, posing as a 17-year-old and using another person’s images. The online conversation became increasingly graphic as Barnett sent explicit messages and requested sexual content from the victim. The victim responded by sending him an explicit video.
Sentencing evidence showed that Barnett used multiple social media platforms—including TikTok, Discord, and Snapchat—to solicit minors for sexual conversations and media. His TikTok account followed thousands of young women and minors at the time of his arrest. He also solicited young men for selfies and images, which he then used while pretending to be a teenage boy when approaching victims online.
Barnett employed various tactics in his attempts to obtain child sex abuse material, including feigning sympathy by claiming he was in a mental institution or pressuring victims into recording videos or taking nude photos under risky circumstances.
First Assistant United States Attorney Robert N. Tracci and Ian Kaufmann, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division, announced the sentencing. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case, while Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman prosecuted it for the United States.
The case is part of Project Safe Childhood—a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in 2006 aimed at protecting children from exploitation and abuse through coordinated efforts among federal, state, and local agencies. For more information about Project Safe Childhood visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia covers federal prosecutions across western Virginia; promotes public safety through crime prevention; operates offices in Roanoke, Charlottesville, Abingdon, Lynchburg, Danville and Harrisonburg; partners with law enforcement agencies; handles civil litigation; and is part of the U.S Department of Justice, according to the official website.