A Virginia woman, Eleanor Hunton Hoppe, has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography and conspiring to commit a horrific act of child molestation. Hoppe, 46, from Charlottesville, entered her guilty plea in federal court, setting the stage for a future behind bars, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Under the terms of her plea agreement, Hoppe will face 135 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release. She is also required to register as a sex offender for a minimum of 25 years—a mandate that indelibly marks the gravity of her offenses. Hoppe, scheduled for sentencing on September 23, 2024, was ensnared by an undercover law enforcement operation.
Court documents reveal that in February 2023, an undercover officer encountered Hoppe on a social media platform used to share illegal material and discussions of child sexual abuse. The Charlottesville resident distributed three images of child pornography to the officer and detailed her desire to sexually abuse his fictitious 8-year-old daughter, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported.
The sting operation culminated on March 16, 2023, when Hoppe arranged to meet the officer and his purported daughter at a hotel in Warrenton, Va. Upon her arrival, intending to carry out the sexual abuse, she was apprehended by police. She is now awaiting punishment for her would-be actions and the broader, chilling implications they hold for the safety of the most vulnerable.
Law enforcement authorities involved in this disturbing case include detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department's Youth and Family Services Division, Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, and the FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Handling the prosecution were Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caroline Burrell and Rachel Forman. This collaboration underscores a vigilant effort to protect children and bring perpetrators to justice in the digital age, where the depraved too often lurk in the shadows.
