HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — A local case involving child sexual abuse material illustrates a new battleground for investigators, as some of the images didn’t involve actual children, but broke the law just the same.
It’s what happens when technology becomes treacherous. An innocent snap of your child could end up in the hands of content creators without a conscience.
As part of a plea deal earlier this year, Dustin Harrell, 39, of Virginia Beach is serving seven years in prison. Federal undercover investigators found that Harrell had distributed child sexual abuse material. His devices had hundreds of images and videos, and while some showed real children others were animations of children.
“He had both [computer-generated imagery] and videos as well as actual victims and actual child pornography,’ said Brian Dugan, special agent in charge of the FBI Norfolk office. “Unfortunately it did not surprise me.”
But you don’t need …