NEWPORT NEWS — A Williamsburg man pled guilty Monday to distributing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
According to court documents, on Feb. 14 and 15, a police officer made asked 22-year-old Xavier Joseph Stafford to remove his vehicle from private property in Williamsburg, and on Feb. 18, Stafford sent an email to the officer in which Stafford threatened to rape the officer’s daughter. According to officials, Stafford included two animated images depicting child sexual abuse and a live photo repeatedly looping several frames of consecutive images of the officer’s home.
Stafford is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 4 and faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison, officials said.
Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Dominique Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert J. Krask accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Therese O’Brien is prosecuting the case, the office said.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.
