Chesterfield Man Pleads Guilty To Production Of Child Pornography

RICHMOND, Va. – Lawrence Paul Sayers, 32, of Chesterfield County, Va., pleaded guilty today to production of child pornography.  Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General of Virginia, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge David J. Novak.

Sayers was indicted on July 16, 2013, by a federal grand jury on four counts of production of child pornography.  Sayers faces a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years’ imprisonment up to a maximum of thirty years’ imprisonment when he is sentenced on December 12, 2013, by Senior United States District Court Judge Robert E. Payne.

According to a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, the Chesterfield County Police Department (“CCPD”) executed a search warrant at Sayers’s residence in Chesterfield County on May 12, 2013.  During the search, the CCPD recovered two cellular telephones, which were both locked.  The CCPD asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) for assistance in forensically examining the cellular telephones.  The forensic examination revealed approximately forty images and five videos depicting an eight-to-nine-year-old female engaged in sexually explicit conduct with an unidentified adult male.  On June 28, 2013, after Sayers was advised of his Miranda rights and waived those rights, FBI agents interviewed him.  During the interview, Sayers admitted that he was the unidentified adult male engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the juvenile female depicted in the images and videos recovered by the FBI.  Sayers also admitted producing the images and videos with his cellular telephones in his residence in Chesterfield County, Va.

This case was investigated by the Chesterfield County Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Special Assistant United States Attorney Thomas K. Johnstone IV is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.