Federal Jury Convicts Virginia Man of Producing Child Pornography

A federal jury found Logan Roy McCauley, 25, of Hamilton, Virginia, guilty today of producing child pornography.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger for the Eastern District of Virginia made the announcement after the verdict was accepted by Senior U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in November 2017, McCauley drove to West Virginia, picked up a minor he had met online, and drove the minor to his residence in Hamilton.  Within hours of arriving, McCauley engaged in sexual intercourse with the minor for purposes of using a smartphone to record a portion of the sexual encounter.  Soon after creating the video, McCauley sent an online message to another person admitting he had made the video that morning.  The day after McCauley created the video, law enforcement arrived at McCauley’s residence.  At this time, McCauley told law enforcement about the video, which was still on McCauley’s smart phone.

McCauley faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and is subject to a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence.  He will be sentenced on April 26, 2019 before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ellis.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.  It was prosecuted by Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander Berrang and Jay Prabhu of the Eastern District of Virginia.

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.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.