Last Updated on March 10, 2021 6:08 pm
An Ashe County man has plead guilty to multiple internet crimes against children.
On Monday, March 8, 2021, Brian Douglas Eller pleaded guilty in Ashe County Superior Court on charges related to statutory sex offense with a child by an adult, statutory rape of a child by an adult, and first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations.
Eller was sentenced to a minimum of 75 years in state prison by The Honorable Michael D. Duncan.
Eller, 30, of Creston, North Carolina, was 27 years of age when the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) received an investigative lead from the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force indicating Eller was sexually abusing a young child, according to NCSBI.
As a result of the investigation, agents with the SBI Computer Crimes Unit executed a search warrant on Eller’s residence on January 24, 2018. Multiple devices were seized from the residence as a result and a statement was given by Eller, according to the NCSBI.
Eller was charged on January 24, 2018, with multiple counts surrounding the sexual abuse of a minor and the production of child sexual abuse materials.
This investigation surrounded the use of an instant messaging mobile app by Eller and others who were communicating with one another and trading files depicting child sexual abuse materials, according to a NCSBI statement. Eller distributed the files he created of the young child with an individual in North Dakota.
This investigation was investigated by the SBI Computer Crimes Unit with assistance from the Boone Police Department/ICAC Task Force and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations ICAC Task Force. No additional information is available.
This case was prosecuted by the 23rd Prosecutorial District Attorney Office, the Honorable T. E. Horner.
