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Press Release

Local Music Volunteer Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Production of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Virginia

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – David Alexander Battle II, 24, who served as a volunteer with the music program at Grace E. Metz Middle School in Manassas, was sentenced today to 300 months in prison for production of child pornography, attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, receipt of child pornography, and distribution of child pornography after being convicted by a federal jury on March 10.

Battle was charged by superseding indictment on February 11.  According to court records and evidence at trial, an Internet Protocol address linked to Battle was used to share a sexually explicit video involving a child on a chat website in April 2015.  Battle also posed as a minor girl on another chat platform and chatted with minor boys, coercing and enticing them to send him sexually explicit images of themselves. The evidence demonstrated that the defendant personally knew two of the boys he chatted with on this platform.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Leslie R. Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Douglas W. Keen, Manassas City Chief of Police; and Clark E. Settles, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton.  The Herndon Police Department and the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay V. Prabhu and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Britsch prosecuted the case.

This investigation was a 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.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:15-cr-274.

Updated June 13, 2016

Topic
Project Safe Childhood