A Le Roy man, previously on the register of sex offenders, has been handed a 10-year prison term after his attempts to send obscene material to a minor were thwarted by federal intervention, United States Attorney Andrew M. Luger revealed.
63-year-old Richard Dean Vandeweerd, whose guilty plea detailed his use of the Meet24 chat app to unwittingly engage with an undercover FBI agent posing as "Becca," a 14-year-old girl from Tennessee, entered sexually explicit conversations with the purported minor and escalated to sending unsolicited pictures of his genitalia, even though the girl he thought he was communicating with was an agent in disguise, he continued with his acts.
Having admitted to one count of attempting the felony involving a minor, while concurrently being obligated to register as a sex offender, Vandeweerd received his sentence on December 12, 2023, from Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright in U.S. District Court, as noted by the Department of Justice.
This sorry chapter comes as part of the larger narrative of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative dating back to 2006 led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, dedicated to addressing the widespread issue of child sexual exploitation and abuse, the Department has been mobilizing efforts to zero in on and bring to book offenders who navigate the digital realm to prey on minors, also providing a lifeline for the young victims who get caught in this nefarious web.
The FBI's rigorous investigation into Vandeweerd's actions underscores the continuing crusade against individuals who target children online, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren O. Roso spearheading the prosecution resulting in Vandeweerd's decade-long sentence.
