CARMI – A Carmi man was sentenced in White County Court Thursday to prison on child pornography charges.

According to White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud, 22-year-old Seth R. Howard was sentenced to four years in prison and will serve one year of mandatory supervised release on one charge of child pornography, the same sentence was given on another charge of child pornography and four years of probation was given on a third child pornography charge. These are all Class 2 felonies.

Aud says Howard’s sentences must all run consecutively to one another which means that he was ultimately served to eight years in the Illinois Department of Corrections with a sentence of four years of probation to begin once he is released from the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Howard was arrested in March of 2020 following an investigation by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He pled guilty in September 2022 to three offenses of possessing child pornography videos of children under the age of 13. He was also ordered to make a contribution to The Guardian Center of $500 and complete sex offender treatment.

Howard was represented by defense attorney Terry Green out of West Frankfort who asked the judge to sentence Howard to probation. State’s Attorney Denton Aud prosecuted the case and asked that Howard be sentenced to 18 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Following argument of counsel, Judge T. Scott Webb sentenced Howard to the eight years in prison with the consecutive four years of probation.