March 29, 11

NEWS / Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

Charges Stem from Three Districts

WASHINGTON – An Orange County, Va., man pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia to child pornography charges that originated in three different districts.



The guilty plea was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy of the Western District of Virginia, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia and U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida.



Anthony C. Jeffries, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography on charges contained in an indictment filed in the Western District of Virginia. In addition, Jeffries pleaded guilty to two separate one-count criminal informations originally filed in the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Florida charging him with distributing child pornography.



According to information presented in court, Jeffries assisted in running an online forum from his Orange County home that was dedicated to posting pictures and chatting about young girls. The defendant was responsible for one-fourth of the images available on the forum.



In February 2010, undercover FBI agents working in Richmond, Va., and Miami logged onto a peer-to-peer file sharing network and downloaded numerous images of child pornography from Jeffries. In June 2010, a search warrant was obtained and computer equipment was seized from the defendant’s Virginia home. A forensic examination of that equipment revealed thousands of image files, including images of young children engaged in sexual acts with adults.



At sentencing, Jeffries faces a maximum penalty of between five and 20 years in prison for each distribution count and 10 years for each possession count.



The investigation of the case was conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the Charlottesville Police Department, the University of Virginia Police Department and the High Technology Unit of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS).



Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Healey, Trial Attorney Chantel Febus with the Criminal Division’s CEOS and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Moore are prosecuting the case for the Western District of Virginia. Elizabeth Wu is prosecuting the case for the Eastern District of Virginia and Scott Edenfield is prosecuting the case for the Southern District of Florida.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/March/11-crm-387.html