Hamby pleads guilty to child porn charge

ABINGDON — An Independence man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Abingdon on Dec. 20 to one count of receiving child pornography.

John Locke Hamby Jr.

John Hamby, 49, was apprehended in September when an undercover law enforcement officer working with the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force discovered Hamby was trading child pornography on an Internet peer-to-peer file-sharing site, according to Brian McGinn, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Attorney's Western District of Virginia office.
Hamby is scheduled to be sentenced March 28. He is being held in custody during this time, McGinn said.
This is not Hamby's first conviction involving children, and he was already a registered sex offender at the time of his recent arrest.
Hamby tried to fake his death in 2005 while facing charges of sexual battery. He was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of indecent liberties with a child, in a case dating back to 2003.
Hamby was sentenced to serve five years, with 25 years suspended upon active probation for 25 years. He was ordered to have no contact with the victims and to complete sexual offender counseling as part of his probation.
Grayson Commonwealth's Attorney Doug Vaught said Hamby tried to fake his death in April 2005 and left a note and clues that he had drowned in the New River. He was arrested in another state in August 2005.
Carroll County authorities spent about a week looking for a body, using a search dog, helicopter, search and dive teams.