A Waterford man was sentenced Sept. 15 for participating in a child exploitation enterprise involving six defendants, the United States Department of Justice has announced.
Virgil Napier, 54, who pleaded guilty June 21, 2016, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the conspiracy that operated 2013-2016, according to the DOJ.
In a news release, the DOJ stated that trial evidence showed Napier and the five others worked together to lure juvenile girls to engage in sexually explicit conduct through a video chat website, which was recorded. Prepubescent girls were predominantly targeted. The group communicated with each other through password-protected chat rooms, where they strategized about how to convince the children to engage in sexual activity, often pretending to be teenage boys or girls.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the DOJ.
The other co-conspirators sentenced Sept. 15:
* Justin Fuller, 37, of Modesto, Calif., sentenced 35 years
* John Garrison, 52, of Glenarm, Ill., sentenced to 35 years
* Thomas Dougherty, 54, of Vallejo, Calif, sentenced to 26 years
Two others were sentenced earlier – Dantly Nicart, 39, a citizen of the Philippines living in Las Vegas was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay $150,000 restitution, and Brandon Henneberg, 31, of Diller, Neb. was sentenced to 35 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release and ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution.
