Clermont County Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

CINCINNATI – Richard Lee Devito, 34, of Batavia, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to creating child pornography.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, announced the plea entered into today before U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott.

Devito admitted to inducing an eight-year-old female to engage in sexually explicit conduct in August 2016 for the purpose of making child pornography. Devito used the messaging app “ooVoo,” pretended to be a 13-year-old and persuaded the child to send him videos of her naked. The videos included the minor dancing or rubbing her genitalia.

“As he admitted in court today, Devito knowingly induced more than 25 minors to send him sexual or nude videos and photographs over the Internet,” said U.S. Attorney Glassman. “The minors were typically between the ages of eight and 12. He would often encourage the children to rub their genital and place objects up their vagina or anus.”

Devito also possessed thousands of images and video files that depicted child pornography. Several included prepubescent children under the age of 12 engaged in sexual acts with adults.

Devito pleaded guilty to one count of production of child pornography, which is punishable by a range of 15 to 30 years in prison and five years up to a lifetime of supervised release.

“As a parent, this kind of predatory behavior over the internet is frightening,” said U.S. Attorney Glassman. “I commend the FBI for its investigation of the case, which led to today’s guilty plea.” U.S. Attorney Glassman further commended Assistant United States Attorney Kyle J. Healey, who is representing the United States in this case.

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