NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Nicolas Antonio Lainez, 19, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child.
According to court documents, Lainez was living with a family on Fort Eustis on Feb. 7 when he recorded himself sexually exploiting a six-year-old victim. The video was uploaded to Lainez’s Google account via his cellphone, resulting in a CyberTipline Report notification from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (Army CID) on March 11. The same day, Army CID agents arrived at the residence, seized the cellphone, and arrested Lainez.
Lainez was the subject of six NCMEC CyberTipline Reports and is attributed with a total of four video files and 14 image files of CSAM, including additional CSAM depicting the victim in this case.
Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Jake Cameron, Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter G. Osyf prosecuted the case.
This 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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.
Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:26-cr-28.