Virginia Beach man sentenced to 25 years in prison for sexually exploiting children online

NORFOLK, Va. - A Virginia Beach man was sentenced this week to 25 years in prison for production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

According to court documents, Joseph Downing Barnes Jr., 35, engaged in webcam chat sessions with young boys, aged approximately 10-15 years old. Barnes, who is a biological male and transgender female, exposed his breasts to the boys, who believed Barnes was a biological female, to induce the boys to perform sexually explicit acts on camera. Barnes recorded the webcam chats and saved the files to his Google account.

Barnes is a convicted sex offender, having pled guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2016 to distribution of CSAM.

Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Kai Wah Chan, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth W. Hanes.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph L. Kosky 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.

For more information about HSI's efforts to protect children from sexual predators, visit Know2Protect.gov.

Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District CourtLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACERLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. by searching for Case No. 2:26-cr-29.