Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Enticement of a Minor and Child Pornography Charges

A Roanoke, Virginia man pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of enticement of a minor, receipt or attempted receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen for the Western District of Virginia.

Scott Curtiss Pieritz, 57, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Michael F. Urbanski to charges of enticement of a minor, receipt or attempted receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.   

In July 2017,  law enforcement agents were notified that Pieritz, who had a duty to register as a sex offender as a result of three prior child pornography convictions, was using various social media applications to entice minors to produce and send him child pornography.  A search warrant for his electronic devices confirmed that Pieritz was in possession of numerous images and videos of child pornography, had posed as a minor online,  and had exchanged money and gifts for images from minors. The defendant also admitted to this conduct in an interview with law enforcement agents.

Pieritz is schedule to be sentenced on Oct. 1.

The case was investigated by the Virginia State Police.  Trial Attorney Nadia Prinz of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Healey of the Western District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.

This 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 Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.