Rafferty Daniel Kelly, Possession and Receipt of Child Pornography, Virginia 2022

A federal judge has found a Virginia man guilty of possessing and receiving child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Rafferty Daniel Kelly, 40, of Alexandria, Virginia, worked for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In March 2022, a federal CSAM investigation led federal agents to execute a search warrant at Kelly's home, where they seized multiple devices. A review of those devices revealed that, over a period of at least two years, Kelly had downloaded and stored over 50,000 images of CSAM and child erotica, including images of infants and prepubescent children. Kelly also possessed a handbook on how to groom children.

The Honorable Michael S. Nachmanoff found Kelly guilty of one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24, 2024, and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. Judge Nachmanoff will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006.

The defendant's full name is Rafferty Daniel Kelly, and he is from Alexandria, Virginia. The exact criminal charges are receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The sentence or outcome is currently set for July 24, 2024, with a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-judge-finds-virginia-man-guilty-child-pornography-offenses