ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A Sterling man was sentenced today to 32 years in prison for conspiring with a child sex trafficker in the Philippines to livestream the sexual abuse of numerous children on the Internet.
Micheal Anthony Baxter, 50, of Sterling, was sentenced on [insert date] to 32 years in prison for conspiring with a child sex trafficker to livestream the sexual abuse of numerous children on the Internet, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
According to court documents, between at least April 2017 and November 2020, Baxter and the child sex trafficker conspired to use children, some as young as three years old, to produce more than 30 livestreaming webcam shows depicting the sexual abuse of the children.
Baxter and his co-conspirator used an Internet application to arrange the time and location of the livestream, preview the children who would appear in the livestream, discuss the sexual acts the children would perform, and direct the sexual acts in real time via text chat. Baxter paid the child sex trafficker through a third-party website to sexually abuse the young children while he watched via livestream.
In December 2023, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at Baxter’s residence, where they found him actively engaged in a chat on the same Internet application with another suspected child sex trafficker. Records obtained from the Internet application showed that Baxter had purchased livestreams of the other user’s 7- and 10-year-old daughters engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Baxter is a registered sex offender, having been convicted in Prince William County Circuit Court in 2009 for possession of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff presided over the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Halper prosecuted the case. The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
“Today’s sentence sends a clear message that those who prey on the most vulnerable members of our society will face severe consequences,” said Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We will continue to work tirelessly to protect our children and hold accountable those who harm them.”
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Key Facts
- State: Virginia
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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