Tri-Cities man sent 10,000 child porn images. Feds say he won’t stay clear of kids

A Tri-Cities man has been sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison for downloading pornographic images of children for what a judge said appeared to be a long period of time.

Federal prosecutors fear Larry Jay Halls, 54, may reoffend after he violated an order last summer when he was out of jail awaiting sentencing, according to a court document. He was ordered to stay away from areas where children gather.

U.S. Judge Mary Dimke noted that Larry Jay Halls, 54, expressed no remorse in court for the children in the images he downloaded, and she commented on the large number of images on his computer, according to federal prosecutors.

Law enforcement found more than 600 pornographic photos and videos of children 12 years and younger on his desktop computer when they searched his Kennewick home in March 2021, according to a court documents

When law enforcement arrived peer-to-peer software that downloaded images was running, according to a court document.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern Washington District said that Halls distributed 10,000 images and more than 600 videos to three separate undercover agents.

A court document also said he had thousands of images of one child victim.

“The quantity of images is substantial, but also the amount of particular victims’ images,” Dimke said, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “The number of those images for any one victim is indicative of the viewer knowing how much abuse that victim was subjected to.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Dimke imposed $12,000 in restitution and 10 years of probation.

Some of the victims in the images Halls downloaded were known to law enforcement.

They included a victim whose mother said her daughter had been given a “life sentence” by the people who have downloaded her images of sexual abuse, according to a court document.

A guardian ad litem for another victim, now removed from her abuser and in foster care, said the girl worries that images of her will always be online, according to a court document.

Ordered to stay far from kids

Last summer, when Halls was not in custody, he violated the terms of his pre-sentence release that he stay 500 feet away from playgrounds, parks and other places children gather.

“These violations were significant and serious given the facts and circumstances of defendant’s underlying charge,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurel Holland in a court document.

In July he went to a miniature golf facility and on another day he took time off work and bypassed a gas station near his apartment to travel to one directly across from an athletic field, according to a court document.

Federal prosecutors also accuse him of tampering with a GPS unit used to monitor his location, a claim that Halls contests. His pretrial release was revoked in early September 2023.

“His refusal to abide by conditions specifically aimed at limiting his access to children and tracking his whereabouts are of great concern,” Holland said.

Federal prosecutors asked for a sentence of eight years in prison followed by 20 years probation.

Halls’ attorney, Colin Prince of Spokane, asked for a sentence of five years in prison.

Halls was not a sophisticated computer user and did not realize his computer settings allowed uploads to distribute images, Prince said in a court document.

Halls is struggling with “intense shame” over his behavior and was a victim of sexual abuse as a teen, according to his attorney. Halls has been diagnosed with heart failure and was assaulted four times in prison while awaiting sentencing, Prince said.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Alison Gregoire and Holland.