David Williams, 23, of Henrico County, was sentenced to five years of prison time after entering guilty pleas to five counts of using a communications system to solicit a minor and five counts of possession of child pornography.
Attorney General Mark Herring made the announcement after Henrico County Circuit Court Judge John Marshall sentenced the defendant.
“Individuals like this who take advantage of children, rob them of their innocence, and exploit them must be brought to justice and held accountable for their actions,” Herring said. “I’m glad my team was able to secure this strong sentence that will take this dangerous individual off of our streets and out of our communities, making our children safer. I want to thank our local, state, and federal partners for their help and dedication on this case.”
The case began when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria received a tip that an individual had uploaded suspected child pornography into an email account. The account was subsequently identified as belonging to Williams.
Separately around the same time, an Aurora County, Colo., police detective examined a cell phone as part of a child pornography investigation and recovered an online chat between a Colorado suspect and Williams in which they discussed trading child pornography.
In a subsequent interview with officers, Williams admitted to possessing child pornography, and a forensic examination of Williams’ cell phone revealed that he had saved approximately 500 child pornography images. Also recovered from the phone were chats between Williams and minor boys where Williams sent them nude pictures of himself and requested that the minors send him sexually explicit images and engage in sex acts.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Assistant Attorney General Alexaundra Williams of Attorney General Herring’s Computer Crimes Section prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth, with assistance from the Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
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