Chicago, IL – A suburban Chicago man has been sentenced to 34 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexually exploiting children by coercing them into sending explicit images.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, 46-year-old Richard Barnett of Aurora, Illinois, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey. Prosecutors said Barnett repeatedly posed as a young teenager online to contact girls between the ages of nine and 13, pressuring them into producing explicit content. Authorities said he allegedly threatened several victims with physical harm, including kidnapping and murder, if they refused his demands.
Barnett has been in custody since 2017 and pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple federal child pornography charges. In addition to the prison term, the judge ordered a lifetime of court-supervised release following his sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Chapman said Barnett “remorselessly used these girls as objects” while inflicting lifelong trauma. He argued Barnett repeatedly humiliated, threatened, and degraded his victims, attacking their self-esteem and sense of safety.
The FBI’s Chicago Field Office, along with agents from Buffalo, New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, assisted in the investigation. Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Chicago Field Office, said in a statement that the case underscores how seriously law enforcement treats child exploitation crimes. “Today’s sentence exemplifies how seriously law enforcement and the judicial system take these reprehensible crimes,” DePodesta said.
Authorities encourage anyone who may be a victim of sexual exploitation to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or visit missingkids.org. The hotline operates 24 hours a day.
This article was produced by a journalist and may include AI-assisted input. All content is reviewed for accuracy and fairness.
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