Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Transferring Child Pornography Via the Internet

Washington, D.C. – A 64-year-old Falls Church, Virginia man, William Hedgpeth, has pled guilty to Transporting or Shipping Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Hedgpeth entered his guilty today in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Richard W. Roberts. Hedgpeth is subject to a mandatory minimum term of five years’ imprisonment and an anticipated sentencing guidelines range of 121 to 151 months in prison when he is sentenced on January 6, 2009.

The defendant admitted during today’s plea proceeding that between February 2007 and March 2008, he engaged in numerous internet conversations with a Washington Metropolitan Police detective working in an undercover capacity in which he discussed having sex with young girls. During those conversations, the defendant also transmitted, through the use of Yahoo! Instant Messaging, approximately 20 images depicting child pornography. Specifically, these images showed children who appear to be under the age of twelve, including some under the age of five, engaged in suggestive posing and in various sexual acts with adults. During a search of the defendant’s residence in April 2008, law enforcement officers recovered a computer that contained between 150 and 300 images of child pornography involving prepubescent females ranging in age from approximately three to five years old to young teens.

In announcing today’s guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended the work of Washington Metropolitan Police Detective Timothy Palchak, who conducted the undercover investigation, and FBI Special Agent Jill Blackman of the Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation Squad, who assisted with the investigation. He also thanked the FBI’s Child Exploitation Squad and the Fairfax County, Virginia Police Department for their assistance with the search and arrest. Finally, he thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCormack of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia for his assistance with the search, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Schmidt, who is prosecuting the case.

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