The son of a multimillionaire Virginia man known as the "Father of Telemedicine" was sentenced to 18 years in prison over sexual exploitation charges.
A federal court sentenced Zackary Sanders, 27, to prison, praising him as "a fairly brilliant, imaginative, enthusiastic young guy." Sanders' father, Jay Sanders, a Harvard-educated doctor who advised the Clinton administration in the 1990s, is credited for popularizing telemedicine.
Child Exploitation Leads to the Imprisonment of Virginia Man
The family possessed a $3.4 million-worth seven-bedroom mansion in McLean, Virginia, which they sold in May of last year, only five months before their son was found guilty at trial. It looks to be this location where, according to court filings, 26 law enforcement personnel raided with their firearms drawn at 6 am in February 2020.
Sanders' family members, including his mother Risa, 64, were anxious in court for their son's punishment last week in Alexandria, Virginia. Judge T.S. incarcerated Sanders. Ellis was charged with receiving, creating, and possessing child pornography on 12 counts.
He had chats with at least six kids on messaging applications, according to the trial, and had disgusting films and photographs, including one depicting the sexual torture of a toddler, according to Daily Mail. In October 2021, Zackary Ellis Sanders, 27, was found guilty of five counts of producing child pornography, six counts of receiving child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography in federal court.
Sanders allegedly had sexually explicit interactions with at least six juveniles between 2017 and 2020, according to prosecutors. Sanders operated a concessions company that provided services to area schools, according to federal authorities, but he contacted children through mobile applications and an online forum.
Hundreds of communications were sent to kids directing them to engage in sexually explicit and self-harming behavior, according to authorities. According to court filings, Sanders instructed the children to videotape themselves and transmit the footage to him.
Prosecutors Say Zackary Sanders Admits to Sexually Abusing Minors
Sanders allegedly discussed meeting the youngsters and having sexual relations with them, according to prosecutors. Sanders also threatened to share a video of one youngster to others at the child's high school if the kid did not obey his orders. Images and recordings of sexual assault of additional minors were discovered on laptops and flash drives confiscated from Sanders' bedrooms.
A toddler was sexually molested in one of the recordings while prepubescent youngsters were sexually tortured and exposed to cruel activities in another. The photographs, according to Sanders, came from dark websites. Sanders will be monitored for the rest of his life after serving 18 years in jail, Patch reported.
Additional forensic evidence collected from various laptops and flash drives located in Sanders' bedroom during a court-ordered search revealed that he had photographs and films portraying the sexual assault of more children, featuring footage of a toddler being sexually molested and prepubescent youngsters being sexually tortured and exposed to horrific actions. Sanders informed authorities that he got the photographs from Dark Web websites that were created solely to disseminate and enable the viewing of such content.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a countrywide campaign initiated by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to tackle the scourge of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Project Safe Childhood, led by US Attorneys' Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, marshals federal, state, and local resources to better detect, seize, and prosecute persons who use the internet to exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. Visit www.justice.gov/psc for more information on Project Safe Childhood.
The Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force of the FBI's Washington Field Office investigated this case. FBI agents, as well as additional federal agents and detectives from Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, make up the task team. The task force is tasked with conducting investigations and pressing federal charges against those involved in child exploitation and human trafficking, as per Shore News.
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