Marcus Leyva: Woodlawn Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Filming Explicit Video of His Young Daughter
WOODLAWN, Ill. — A southern Illinois man who recorded an explicit video of his young daughter and tried to send it to a stranger online will spend the next three decades in prison.
Marcus W. Leyva, 36, of Woodlawn, had already pleaded guilty on March 17, 2026, to one count of dissemination of child pornography before receiving his punishment.
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| Marcus Leyva’s arrest |
The case started on January 8, 2026, when the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received a criminal complaint from Leyva’s wife , as per online reports.
She had gone to authorities after she saw her husband sending a sexually explicit image of one of their daughters — just 5 years old — to a Facebook user he knew only as “Timmy Tams.”
Detectives quickly launched an investigation that led them to Leyva’s home, where a forensic mobile analyst with the sheriff’s office spoke with him in the driveway.
That conversation, which was recorded on a body-worn camera, shows the detective slowly drawing out admissions from him.
“I can find deleted images, deleted videos, deleted text messages, deleted everything that’s on your phone, even if it’s been deleted for probably about six months,” the detective told him. “I can get it.”
Leyva later acknowledged that he had taken a video of his daughter within the previous week and tried to send it to the man he called Timmy Tams via Facebook Messenger, but the file never went through.
“I did, but it didn’t go through,” Leyva said. He also told the detective he felt relieved the upload had failed.
At first, Leyva claimed he had been blackmailed when the detective asked why he committed the crime.
He said the man had sent him child sexual abuse material and threatened to target his wife if he did not do what he was told.
But as the detective pressed him, and the conversation continued, he became totally honest about his own interest in the material.
“I got addicted to looking at … underage. Females … girls,” Leyva said. He told the detective the victims in the images he had received appeared to be between 10 and 14 years old. When asked if he became aroused by what he saw, he replied, “Sometimes.”
Leyva then gave the detective permission to take his cell phone and perform a forensic examination. He also revealed that earlier that same day, he had deleted a cache of child pornography from the device because he wanted to “try to get clean.”
“I want help with this,” he said during the exchange. “I don’t want people to think I’m a pedophile.”
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| Marcus Leyva’s mugshot |
After about half an hour, the detective and other deputies on scene agreed that there was more than enough probable cause to make an arrest, particularly because children were still inside the home.
Leyva was taken into custody without incident, and The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office later charged him with two counts of felony dissemination of child pornography and five counts of felony possession of child pornography.
After Leyva’s arrest detectives continued tracking the digital trail, and in March 2026, two more men were taken into custody in connection to the case.
Cody Shepler was arrested on March 10, 2026, and Leon Barnett was arrested on March 13, 2026. Both men were charged with five counts of felony possession of child pornography, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities have not given specific details on how the men are connected to Leyva’s case, but all three arrests stem from the same investigation that began with the January complaint.
In March 2026, less than three months after his initial arrest Leyva pleaded guilty to one count of dissemination of child pornography, while the remaining charges were dismissed, as per Law & Crime.
A judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison, and under Illinois sentencing guidelines, he will be required to serve 15 years before he can be considered for release.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remains open, and additional charges could still be filed as digital forensics work continues.
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