Former Virginia Educator Gets 5 Years for Child Porn

The former assistant principal of a Fauquier County elementary school has received a 5-year prison sentence for receiving child pornography, the minimum sentence allowed under federal law and significantly less than what was sought by prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Va., recommended a sentence of 13 to 16 years for 29-year-old Joshua Myers, who had been assistant principal at Greenville Elementary School in Nokesville.

But U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton on Friday sided with Myers's public defender, who argued that the mandatory minimum of 5 years was sufficient punishment.

The FBI found Myers after an undercover investigation in which Myers was caught trading child pornography over the Internet.

He is one of several educators convicted in the past year in northern Virginia of sex crimes involving children.