Former Youth Pastor Sentenced for Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Child

ROANOKE, Va. – A Catawba, Virginia man, who pled guilty in December 2025 to attempting to sexually exploit a 15-year-old child, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Jacob Ryan Barnett, 35, was arrested in August 2025 and pled guilty in December to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a 15-year-old child. According to court documents, on May 18, 2025, Barnett used TikTok to message the Minor Victim (M.V.) and they began chatting. Barnett posed as a 17-year-old using another person’s images. As their chat progressed, Barnett sent increasingly graphic sexual messages to M.V. Ultimately, Barnett said he wanted to “use” M.V. and asked for something that he could masturbate to. In response, M.V. sent Barnett sexually explicit video of herself. Sentencing evidence showed that Barnett used TikTok, Discord, Snapchat, and other social media apps to solicit minor girls for sexual chats and media. Barnett’s TikTok account was following thousands of young women and minors when he was arrested. He also solicited young men for selfies and images of their genitals, which he used to pose as a teenaged boy when soliciting his victims. Barnett used various tactics to obtain child sex abuse material, including once vying for sympathy with a minor victim by pretending that he was in a mental institution and only had an hour to talk. Barnett pressed another victim to record “risky” videos of herself while on the school bus and to take nude photos while outside. First Assistant United States Attorney Robert N. Tracci and Ian Kaufmann, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Division made the announcement. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case. Assistant United States Attorney Drew O. Inman is prosecuting the case for the United States. The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identity and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/ .