Ex-Federal Employee Sentenced For 'Enticing' Multiple Kids To Produce Porn: Feds

AURORA, IL — An Aurora man convicted of "enticing" children to produce sexually explicit photographs of themselves, threatening some with physical violence, was sentenced to 34 years in prison, the United States Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Richard Barnett, 46, hid behind the username "davidbanks1014" on the musical.ly app, which later merged with TikTok. He pretended to be 12 or 13 years old to ask young girls to send him pornographic images of themselves, Patch previously reported. Many of the victims were between 9 and 13 years old.

Barnett threatened one girl that he would kidnap, assault and murder her if she didn't give in to his demands, prosecutors said.

The Aurora man has been in custody since 2017. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal child pornography charges.

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On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey imposed a 34-year prison term on Barnett and ordered it be followed by a lifetime of court-supervised release.

Barnett, previously a resident of Rochester, New York, was in the U.S. military for 14 years and previously worked for the Federal Aviation Administration in Des Plaines and the Department of Homeland Security, according to a report from 5News.

"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, per a news release. "He threatened his victims, humiliated them, degraded them, and viciously attacked any sense of self-esteem or confidence that stood in his way."

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Investigators encouraged anyone who believes they are a victim of sexual exploitation to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at www.missingkids.org or 800-843-5678. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.