Sex offender sentenced for conspiring to livestream sexual abuse of children overseas

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Sterling man was sentenced today to 32 years in prison for conspiring with a child sex trafficker in the Philippines to livestream the sexual abuse of numerous children on the Internet.

According to court documents, between at least April 2017 and November 2020, Michael Anthony Baxter, 50, and the child sex trafficker conspired to use children, some as young as three years old, to produce more than 30 livestreaming webcam shows depicting the sexual abuse of the children. Baxter and his co-conspirator used an Internet application to arrange the time and location of the livestream, preview the children who would appear in the livestream, discuss the sexual acts the children would perform, and direct the sexual acts in real time via text chat.  Baxter paid the child sex trafficker through a third-party website to sexually abuse the young children while he watched via livestream.

Baxter’s co-conspirator was arrested in the Philippines in February 2021 for human trafficking offenses. After that arrest, Baxter continued to engage with other suspected child sex traffickers.

In December 2023, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at Baxter’s residence, where they found him actively engaged in a chat on the same Internet application with another suspected child sex trafficker. Records obtained from the Internet application showed that Baxter had purchased livestreams of the other user’s 7- and 10-year-old daughters engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

In addition to the children victimized through the livestreams, Baxter also possessed hundreds of files on his computers depicting child sexual abuse. Baxter is a registered sex offender, having been convicted in Prince William County Circuit Court in 2009 for possession of child pornography.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Derek W. Gordon, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Halper prosecuted the case.

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. Attorney’s 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.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:24-cr-8.