Galax Man Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography Videos

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – A Galax man, who gained the trust of single mothers to sexually abuse their young children, was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon, Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.

Richard Denny Nofsinger, 37, most recently of Galax, previously pled guilty to three counts of producing images of child pornography. Today in United States District Court, Judge James P. Jones sentenced Nofsinger to 60 years in federal prison.

“This defendant is a serial predator, repeatedly targeting the most vulnerable in our community – single mothers and their young children. On repeated occasions he gained the trust of single mothers to gain access to their toddlers so he could film himself engaging in sexual acts with those children. The court’s sentence takes a dangerous, serial predator out of our community and probably saved other single mothers and their children from future despicable acts by this defendant. I ask parents to be extra cautious about who you trust to care for your children,” Acting U.S. Attorney Mountcastle said today. “I commend the Galax City Police Department, the Secret Service, and AUSA Bockhorst for their outstanding work on this case.”

According to evidence presented at the September 7, 2016 guilty plea hearing, Nofsinger possessed a cell phone when he was arrested on a state arrest warrant on May 17, 2016, in Galax. Investigators, executing a search of the cell phone, recovered eight videos that contained sexually explicit images of children and showed Nofsinger engaged in sexual conduct with at least two different children. Investigators identified the victims and recovered the T-shirt and sunglasses Nofsinger wore in some of the videos.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the City of Galax Police Department and the United States Secret Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer R. Bockhorst prosecuted the case for the United States.