Virginia Man Chatting with Purported Minor Female Online is Convicted and Sentenced to Federal Prison

MONROE, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced the sentencing of a man from Virginia for attempted production of child pornography. Ross Brandon, 40, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Terry A. Doughty to 180 months (15 years) in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

On June 12, 2023, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") working in an undercover capacity, was posing as a 13-year old female and began communicating with a user via the social platform, Whisper. The user identified himself as Mountain Man and was later identified by law enforcement agents as Ross Brandon. During their communications, the undercover agent identified themselves to Brandon as a 13-year old female named "Sara a.k.a. Princess," living in Louisiana. Brandon identified himself and gave his age and where he resided at the time and told "Sara" that he lived in Virginia. Brandon sent non-sexually explicit photos of himself to "Sara" and law enforcement agents were able to establish his identity and location.

After some time of communicating through the Whisper app, Brandon and "Sara" exchanged telephone numbers and began text messaging on cell phones. While communicating with "Sara," Brandon requested that she engage in self-masturbation and would engage in sexually explicit conversations with her. Brandon sent sexually explicit images of himself to "Sara" on two occasions in June and July of 2023. On two occasions in July of 2023, Brandon requested that "Sara" send sexually explicit images of herself to him.

Brandon was later arrested and admitted to law enforcement agents that he knew "Sara" was under the age of 18 and that he had requested child pornography images from her. He was charged in the Western District of Louisiana with attempted production of child pornography and pleaded guilty July 29, 2024.

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William C. Gaskins.

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