An Alexandria, Virginia, man pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography for enticing minors to engage in sexually-explicit conduct online and recording the acts.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia; Fairfax County, Virginia, Chief of Police Edwin C. Roessler Jr.; and Special Agent in Charge Clark E. Settles of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington made the announcement.

Lucas Aronson, 31, was charged on April 8, 2016, and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia. 

According to admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, a video and text chat website reported an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for streaming child pornography.  The IP address was linked to Aronson’s residence and during a court-authorized search of that residence, law enforcement officers recovered a thumb drive containing child pornography videos and conversations in which Aronson posed as a minor girl as he chatted with female minors online.  Aronson admitted that he enticed some of the minors to engage in sexually explicit activity on web camera and recorded the video. 

The Fairfax County Police and HSI investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Lauren Britsch of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay V. Prabhu of the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted 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.