Zackary Ellis Sanders, Child Exploitation, Virginia 2021

Mclean Man Sentenced to 18 Years for Child Exploitation Crimes

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Zackary Ellis Sanders, 27, a Mclean man, was sentenced to 18 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release for producing, receiving, and possessing child sexual abuse material.

The evidence presented at trial established that Sanders engaged in sexually explicit online conversations with at least six different minors between 2017 and 2020. The conversations took place on various mobile applications and an online forum.

Sanders exchanged hundreds of messages with the minors, in which he instructed and induced them to engage in sexually explicit and self-harming conduct, record themselves doing so, and send the resulting videos to him. He also received videos of a sixth minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Additional forensic evidence recovered from multiple laptops and thumb drives found in Sanders’s bedroom pursuant to a court-authorized search established that he possessed different images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of other children.

According to court documents, Sanders was convicted on October 27, 2021, by a federal jury of five counts of production of child pornography, six counts of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III.

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 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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