An Erie man who was arrested while training for the U.S. Navy was sentenced to seven years of sex offender probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of a child.
Justin Ely, 21, pleaded guilty in January to one count of sexual exploitation of a child in a video and one count of sexual exploitation of a child by possession — both charges are classified as extreme risk — as part of a plea agreement, according to court records. Five counts of sexual exploitation of a child by selling or publishing – extreme risk, and four counts of sexual exploitation of a child in a video – extreme risk, were dismissed as part of the agreement, court records show.
Ely was sentenced to seven years of sex offender intensive supervision probation and one year of work release.
Boulder County District Judge Andrew Hartman said he appreciated that Ely took responsibility for his actions and cited Ely’s attempt to serve in the Navy during the Tuesday sentencing hearing.
“I hope that the defendant will get on track,” he said.
Ely said that he hopes to have the chance to prove himself as someone who can improve.
“I understand what I’ve done,” Ely said. “I’m deeply ashamed of my actions.”
Ely was arrested in June 2025 on a Navy base in Connecticut while training, after the messaging app Kik reported child sexual abuse material was being stored in an account in June 2024.
In August 2024, the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which was assigned the tip from the national center, served a summons on Comcast to identify the account user, which came back as Ely.
An investigator at the Boulder County Digital Forensics Lab then reviewed the Kik report and found 19 child sex assault videos, according to an arrest affidavit.
Law enforcement found Ely in Connecticut at his Navy training center and seized his phone, where they found five photos of child sexual assault material on it, the affidavit states.