By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A Genesee County man is facing federal child pornography charges after authorities say he created and distributed illicit material from a Livingston County residence.

28-year-old Austin Lash was charged last year with production, possession, and transportation of child pornography after a grand jury indictment alleged he used Facebook to send himself a clip of what appeared to be an infant being raped.

But court records show that on Thursday, Lash agreed to plead guilty to a single count of transportation of child pornography in exchange for the other counts being dropped. Federal authorities were alerted after the clip was flagged by the social media company. A subsequent search of Lash's Clio residence turned up multiple electronic devices which were seized. A search of those devices then turned up approximately 4,000 images of child sexually abusive material, including a video of Lash engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a sleeping nine-year-old child.

Detectives were able to determine that incident occurred at his parent’s home in Deerfield Township. Lash was originally charged in Livingston County, but those charges were dropped so they could be re-filed in federal court. He will be sentenced on November 23rd when he will face a mandatory five-year minimum prison term as well as up to $250,000 in fines. Had he been convicted on the original charges, the minimum sentence would have been 15 years.

He will also have to register as a sex offender for at least 20 years and undergo a minimum of five years of probation upon release.