Cameron Man Convicted Of Possessing Child Porn
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MOUNDSVILLE — Devon Jack Eckard, 29, of Cameron was convicted Friday of felony distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct after a two-day jury trial, said Marshall County Prosecutor Joe Canestraro.
The trial was presided over by Marshall County Circuit Court Judge Richard Wilson.
“It’s some of the worst child sexual abuse material that I’ve ever seen as a prosecutor,” Canestraro said following the trial.
Canestraro said Eckard had more than 600 videos and images of child sexual abuse material on his cell phone discovered after a traffic stop in January 2025.
Of the material discovered on his phone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children confirmed 1,024 of the videos and images had already been identified by the center and in its database, he said.
“The center was able to determine that of the children in the material the defendant possessed; 164 were children already identified by the center,” he added.
During the traffic stop in Glen Dale, illegal controlled substances were found and Eckard’s cell phone was seized.
“A subsequent search warrant and forensic examination of the cell phone identified the child sexual abuse material was concealed in two concealment apps on the phone and that a file sharing app was used to download the material on four different dates in 2023-24,” Canestraro said.
Canestraro thanked both the Glen Dale Police Department and Moundsville Police Department Sgt. William Whitelatch, who is trained in forensic analysis of cell phones and computers, for their “extraordinary work in investigating the case.”
“These cases are not victimless crimes. Individuals who possess these materials are exploiting real children living somewhere in the world we all live in that have been sexually abused by knowing adults and then photographed and filmed,” Canestraro said. “When a person then hunts for this material on the web, they continue the harm to those children and all children. Any time we can get this material off the street and have the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children identify more children and more of this material, it aids in investigating future crimes of this nature.”
Canestraro prosecuted the case with help from Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Poling, whom he thanked for her “dedicated preparation and work in trying the case to the jury.”
Eckard was immediately taken to the Northern Regional Jail following his conviction. Sentencing will occur at a later date before Wilson. Canestraro said, by state law, Eckard’s possible prison sentence will not be less than five years or more than 15 years in jail, which is the maximum allowed by law.
Eckard will also have to register as a sex offender for life and upon his release will be supervised by authorities for up to 50 years.