Edward Thomas Parsons, Receipt of Child Pornography, Virginia 2019

GRIMY TIMES EXCLUSIVE: A former government employee has admitted to a heinous crime, sparking outrage in the community.

Edward Thomas Parsons, 64, a former physical security specialist with the Department of Defense, pleaded guilty today to one count of receipt of child pornography.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea, Parsons administered an online group chat on Kik Messenger, a mobile messaging application, dedicated to soliciting child pornography from other Kik users.

Between January 2015 and August 2015, Parsons received and distributed images and videos of child pornography from this Kik group chat. In addition, through the course of its investigation, law enforcement seized Parsons’s personal desktop computer and cell phone and found hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on the devices.

Parsons is scheduled to be sentenced on February 1, 2019. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger, Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Chief Michael L. Brown of the Alexandria Police Department made the announcement.

The FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, specifically the Alexandria Police Department, is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys James E. Burke IV, Gwendelynn Bills, and William Clayman of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting the case.

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