Barry Bryant Rossman, Child Pornography, California 2023

A former Oxnard resident has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for using Instagram to entice a 10-year-old girl into sending him sexually explicit images of herself.

Barry Bryant Rossman, 63, also known as ‘Ben,’ was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison by United States District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr.

Rossman was also placed on lifetime supervised release and ordered to pay $427.50 in restitution.

The 63-year-old pleaded guilty on May 24 to one count of production of child pornography, one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and one count of receipt of child pornography.

According to court documents, in late December 2019 and early January 2020, Rossman posed as ‘Ben,’ a 21-year-old man, and used the Instagram account ‘itsben6969’ to contact the victim, a 10-year-old girl in Colorado.

Rossman engaged in conversation with the victim, using flattery and discussing topics such as Christmas gifts. Over the following days, Rossman’s conversations with the victim became increasingly sexually explicit, and he convinced the victim to send him sexually exploitative photographs of herself.

The victim’s mother discovered the messages on her daughter’s phone and called the police, leading to a search warrant being executed at Rossman’s residence in Oxnard. Investigators found evidence linking his iPhone to the Instagram account used to contact the victim.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Rossman ‘lied to, groomed, and manipulated children to engage in sex acts they were far too young to even understand.’

The FBI and the Erie (Colorado) Police Department investigated this matter, with Assistant United States Attorneys Chelsea Norell and Kathy Yu of the Violent and Organized Crime Section prosecuting the case.