Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Participating in Dark Web Child Abuse Platform

• A man from Virginia got a sentence of 20 years in prison for downloading and sharing child abuse material.
• Another man in Western Australia is facing a similar sentence for ordering live-streamed child abuse.
• Distributing media of this kind on the dark web is equally as serious as producing it.

Christopher Robert Sueiro, 40, from Fairfax, Virginia, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release for being a member of a dark web platform that enables users to download images and videos of child sexual abuse material. The sick individual used peer-to-peer networks to download and also upload media of this kind, exchanging material with other members of the platform. This went on for four years until the law enforcement investigators searched Sueiro’s digital devices for an unrelated investigation.

Although Sueiro didn’t produce any of the material, the dissemination of child abuse media is still a serious offense. As Special Agent in Charge Raymond Villanueva of the ICE stated: “Each time someone downloads child pornography, the child is victimized all over again. Predators cannot hide behind the cloak of the internet; our special agents and law enforcement partners work tirelessly to identify them and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

As such, the sentence of 20 years in prison reflects the severity of the crime and sends the message to other members of these platforms that sharing child abuse material online will have serious consequences when they are eventually caught.

In another case in Australia, which was published today by the WA Police, a 70-year-old man was arrested and is expected to appear in court today facing over 111 criminal offense charges. The man was confirmed to be holding child abuse material back in September 2020, while the subsequent digital analysis of the seized devices revealed that he had a very deep involvement in dark web platforms of this kind.

As the announcement details, the man was ordering live-distance child abuse that was streamed to him privately, so the cruel acts were happening thousands of kilometers away from his Geraldton home in Western Australia. This didn’t stop the detectives from identifying and linking the man with the crime, so he was promptly arrested. The maximum penalty for the offenses he faces could incur up to 20 years of imprisonment - and hopefully, the court will go with the uppermost limit.