PIKEVILLE, Ky. — A Virginia sex offender currently in federal prison after pleading guilty to exchanging nude pictures with a Floyd County, Kentucky, boy, is asking for early release.

Earnest Bradley Hall, 50, of Saltville, Va., was sentenced to 15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to receiving child pornography in 2014.

In a motion for compassionate release filed last week, Hall asks that he be released after six years for a number of reasons. Those include the need to take care of a sick mother, who has lung cancer, and his own high blood pressure and obesity, which make him more susceptible to COVID-19.

Prosecutors have until the end of the month to file a response to the request.