Virginia man sentenced for producing child pornography shared on the Internet

July 19 (UPI) -- A Virginia man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for producing child pornography and sharing it on the Internet, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Wednesday.

Vincent Sarikey, 35, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of children.

According to court documents, Sarikey enticed a 15-year-old girl to produce child sexual abuse material, which he distributed over the messaging application Telegram.

Sarikey, who used to live in Herndon, also attempted to having enticed a self-identified 12-year-old girl in Argentina to produce a sexually explicit video for him. The girl told Sarikey she was 12 and that he would "go to jail," before refusing to make the material. Court documents show Sarikey sent the minor two sexually explicit videos as he tried to persuade her.

According to court documents, Sarikey's devices revealed more than 20,000 images and 500 videos of child sexual abuse material. And between October 2015 and July 2017, Sarikey told a friend about his sexual interest in children -- including his attempts to meet, groom and abuse children -- while blaming his victims for his criminal behavior.

While Sarikey pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children, he also faces additional charges for sexually exploiting a child in the Southern District of Indiana nearly 15 years ago.

Sarikey's case first came to light as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department to fight child exploitation and abuse.