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Press Release

Norfolk Man Convicted of Sexually Abusing 11-Year-Old

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

NORFOLK, Va. – A federal jury convicted a Norfolk man last Friday on charges of abusive sexual contact of a minor.

According to court records and evidence presented at trial, in 2019, Donald Gene Ferguson II, 51, was working as a civilian Department of Defense employee in Iwakuni, Japan. During the summer of 2019, while in military housing in Iwakuni, Ferguson forced an 11-year-old minor to touch his genitals. While the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was investigating the abuse, they discovered Ferguson also sexually abused a 12-year-old in the summer of 2012 while living in Florida. 

Ferguson faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when sentenced on May 9. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Mack Hickman, Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis accepted the verdict.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Yusi and Trial Attorney Alicia A. Bove of the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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 is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:22-cr-49.

Updated January 9, 2023

Topic
Project Safe Childhood