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Press Release
A Virginia man was indicted today on child pornography charges, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle of the Western District of Virginia.
Richard Alan Wellbeloved-Stone, 57, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on three counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Charlottesville Police Department, the Virginia State Police and the Albemarle County Police Department.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leslie Williams Fisher of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Healey.
The charges and allegations contained in an indictment are merely accusations. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.