Man sentenced after child sexually-oriented material found in online account

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Columbus man was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for possessing material showing minors engaging in sexual activities.

David A. Stickler, 35, pleaded guilty last week to one third-degree felony count of pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person and two fourth-degree felony counts of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.

Stickler was charged in November 2023 after a tip from the file-sharing service Dropbox alerted law enforcement that someone had uploaded multiple files depicting child sexual abuse. According to court records, the account had an email address with Stickler's first name initial and full last name. A phone number listed on Dropbox was also registered to Stickler. Through a subpoena, investigators said they also found the IP address associated with the Dropbox account matched Stickler's home address.

At the time of his arrest, Stickler was already on the state's sex offender registry for a 2014 case in which he pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony pandering charge.

Stickler was sentenced Friday to four years and 11 months in prison. He was given four years for the pandering charge to be served consecutively with an 11-month sentence for the illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material charges. He was given concurrent 11-month sentences for the illegal use of a minor charges.

Stickler will also serve five years of probation once his prison term is over. He will also be required to register as a tier 2 sex offender, meaning he must register with the local sheriff's office every 180 days for 25 years.