Sept. 19, 2023 UPDATE: Richard Whitley, Jr. was sentenced on Sept. 19 on a charge of receipt of child pornography. He was sentenced to 10 years with an additional 25 years of supervised release.
Previous coverage:
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — A Newport News man who was employed as a bus driver and school aide at a Colonial Heights elementary school pleaded guilty Thursday to receipt of child pornography.
Court documents revealed that Richard Jerod Whitley, Jr., 37, was engaged in the online trading of child sexual material. His collection included content with toddlers and infants engaged in sexually explicit conduct as well as sadistic and masochistic material, the investigation found.
Whitley pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 19. He faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The Colonial Heights school district posted about his arrest in January.
The message from January 9 stated, in part, “Mr. Richard Whitley, a computer support paraprofessional at North Elementary School, was arrested earlier today and is a person of interest related to internet crimes against children. Mr. Whitley, who was hired in 2018, has also served as a substitute bus driver and summer school paraprofessional. We understand that the investigation is ongoing and do not have any further information at this time.”
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.
Continue to check WAVY.com for updates.