Project Safe Childhood: Princeton Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Child Pornography

 BLUEFIELD, W.Va. – A Princeton woman pled guilty to conspiring with another person to distribute child pornography, announced United States Attorney Mike Stuart. Elizabeth Kaye Haway, 43, pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute child pornography.

“Protecting our children is my highest priority,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart. “My office takes all Project Safe Childhood cases very seriously and prosecutes them to the fullest extent possible. That being said, even among those cases, this one stands out for the considerable degree of lifelong physical and mental trauma that Haway has inflicted on this young victim.”

Haway admitted that she began talking with codefendant Randall Peggs, of Wheeling, on Facebook in November 2018. Over the course of several months, Haway and Peggs conspired to distribute child pornography of Victim 1, a 5-year-old female minor child. The majority of their communications occurred on Facebook Messenger and conversations focused on Haway’s desires to touch and sexually violate Victim 1 while recording it to send to Peggs. Peggs encouraged Haway to record and send him nude videos of Victim 1 and told her that he would watch anything she sent him. Ultimately, Haway recorded a video of child pornography depicting a nude Victim 1 and sent the video to Peggs twice via Facebook in February 2019.

Haway faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison when sentenced on December 14, 2020. Haway currently is serving a state prison sentence for first degree sexual assault, sexual abuse and incest involving the same minor female child. Peggs previously pled guilty on August 3, 2020 to a federal child pornography charge arising out of this incident. His sentencing is scheduled for November 9, 2020.

This case was investigated by the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force. Senior United States District Judge David A. Faber presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Kristin F. Scott is handling the prosecution.

This case is being prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:19-cr-00304.