Culpeper Man Pleads Guilty to Charges of Commercial Sex with a Minor and Production of Child Pornography

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Fielding Smith Daniel, 53, of Culpeper, Virginia pleaded guilty yesterday to two charges involving the sexual exploitation of children.

According to court documents, in August 2016, Daniel met a young girl on a sugar daddy website.  The girl, who was 14 years old, arranged to meet with Daniel for the purpose of having sex for money.  Shortly after midnight on August 11, 2016, Daniel picked the girl up from her grandmother’s house in his 2016 BMW and drove her to a Motel 6, where they engaged in sex.  Although they had negotiated a rate of $200, Daniel only provided the girl with $100.  On August 23, 2016, he again arranged to have sex with the minor girl for $140 and drove her to a different hotel, where they again had intercourse.

In early September 2016, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of Daniel’s residence in Culpeper, which is in the Western District of Virginia.  Law enforcement recovered numerous electronic devices, which were subsequently examined.  In addition to evidence of conversations with the 14-year-old girl, hundreds of sexually explicit online communications with women were recovered.  Among those chats were two 2016 conversations involving girls who indicated to Daniel that they were minors and in high school.  One of those girls, who was 17 at the time, produced pictures and videos of child pornography at Daniel’s request and sent them to his online account.  These pictures and videos were recovered from at least one of Daniel’s electronic devices.

Daniel entered guilty pleas to both commercial sex with a minor and causing a minor to produce child pornography.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after the pleas were accepted by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.  Daniel will be sentenced on January 19, 2018 in Alexandria by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay V. Prabhu and Whitney Dougherty Russell are prosecuting the case.

Significant support for the investigation was received from the Stafford County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office; the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office; and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Western District of Virginia, the Eastern District of New York, and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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. 1:17-cr-110 and 1:17-mj-145.