From the U.S. Attorney:
Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to 34 Years in Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting Multiple Children
CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to 34 years in federal prison for enticing multiple children to produce sexually explicit images of themselves.
RICHARD BARNETT falsely claimed to be 12 or 13 years old when he contacted young girls online and requested—and sometimes demanded—that they send him sexually explicit images of themselves.
Many of the girls were nine to 13 years old when Barnett enticed them into sending him the images. Barnett threatened some of his victims with physical harm, including telling one girl that he would kidnap, assault, and murder her if she did not comply with his demands.
Barnett, 46, of Aurora, Ill., and previously of Rochester, N.Y., has been in law enforcement custody since 2017.
Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey imposed the 34-year prison sentence and ordered that it be followed by a lifetime of court-supervised release.
The sentence was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. Valuable assistance was provided by the New Orleans, La. Field Office of the FBI, the Buffalo, N.Y. Field Office of the FBI, the Jacksonville, Fla. Sheriff’s Office, and the Ouachita Parish, La. Sheriff’s Office.
“Barnett remorselessly used these girls as objects to be employed in furtherance of his sexual gratification, inflicting trauma that will forever impact his victims’ lives,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Chapman argued in the government’s sentencing recommendation.
“He threatened his victims, humiliated them, degraded them, and viciously attacked any sense of self-esteem or confidence that stood in his way.”
If you believe you are a victim of sexual exploitation, you are encouraged to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by logging on to https://www.missingkids.org or calling 1-800-843-5678. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
