Roseburg Man Sentenced to Nearly 15 Years in Child Exploitation Case
Investigators say David Arthur Kelly made more than 740,000 child sexual abuse files available through a public file-sharing network.
ROSEBURG, Ore. — A Roseburg man has been sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison after investigators uncovered more than 740,000 child sexual abuse files in what Oregon officials described as one of the largest such cases in recent state history.
David Arthur Kelly, 56, pleaded no contest in Douglas County Circuit Court to five counts of Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The case was investigated by the Oregon Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the case involved far more than possession of illegal files.
“This is 740,000 instances of a child being exploited and that exploitation being spread,” Rayfield said. “This man didn’t just possess this material; he made it available to anyone who wanted it.”
According to investigators, the case began after SOCET investigators made 19 separate connections to Kelly’s computer between June 2023 and August 2024 through a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Investigators said they downloaded numerous child sexual abuse material files during those connections.
The Oregon DOJ ICAC Task Force took over the investigation in October 2024, identified Kelly as the suspect and served search warrants at his Roseburg home.
Investigators said a laptop seized during the investigation contained a one-terabyte hard drive with more than 740,000 child sexual abuse material files. Officials said the files were set to share freely over the internet.
Kelly appeared before Douglas County Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Johnson, where he told the court he had “made a mistake,” according to the release. Johnson pointed to the number of files involved and said the case reflected “a series of repeated decisions to exploit children.”
Kelly was indicted by a Douglas County grand jury on Nov. 6, 2025, on 10 counts of Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. Under a stipulated sentence, he will serve 176 months in state prison.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Elijah Michalowski of the Oregon DOJ Criminal Justice Division, who was appointed as a special prosecutor by Douglas County District Attorney Richard Wesenberg.
Rayfield credited investigators with the Southern Oregon Child Exploitation Team and the ICAC Task Force for the work that led to the conviction and sentence.
“This sentence reflects the severity of those choices,” Rayfield said, “and I commend the dedicated investigators at SOCET and our ICAC Task Force who did the painstaking work to bring this case to justice.”
Cover image: David Arthur Kelly, 56, of Roseburg, was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison after investigators said they found more than 740,000 child sexual abuse files shared through a public file-sharing network. Photo courtesy Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
