A homeless man who posed as a police officer to convince an 8-year-old Virginia Beach girl into making child pornography a federal agent said.
LeeDente Darrell Brown, 32, was sentenced Tuesday to 27 years in prison.
The prosecution asked for 30 years — the maximum. The defense asked for 18.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, police learned about Brown's interest in child pornography on Aug. 9, 2017, after the mother of the 8-year-old called 911 to report a suspicious man outside her daughter's window.
Brown initially ran off but returned while the mother was still on the phone with a dispatcher.
The mother noticed her daughter's phone was making noise while she described the man to police, documents said. She realized her daughter had been texting with someone and told him to “run” moments earlier.
Investigators determined Brown and the girl had been trading messages for months and even met several times outside her home.
Brown asked the girl to use her cellphone to send sexually explicit photographs of herself to him, the documents said. He also asked her to let him inside her house so they could have sex.
Brown told the girl, who believed she was in a relationship, not to tell anyone and threatened to kill her if she did, documents said.
Virginia Beach police arrested Brown Aug. 11, 2017. When questioned by detectives, he confessed he wanted to have a sexual relationship with the girl and had been trying to set it up for several weeks.
Wolpert testified he searched Brown's phone to find images of several minor girls, as well as videos he recorded of live web streams he watched.
Yusi added that while Brown awaited trial, he faked mental health problems in an attempt to avoid punishment.
"Brown has shown that he is the epitome of the type of person from which the public needs to be protected," Yusi said, noting his criminal record. "The government does not believe that Brown is able to control himself, which does not bode well for any rehabilitation chances."
Assistant Federal Public Defender Amanda Conner countered her client has a lengthy history of mental health problems, noting that at age 10 he was diagnosed as “ mentally retarded." She acknowledged Brown tried to pretend like he didn't know what was going on, but said he did it so badly because he isn't very smart. Among other things, he said prosecutor's role in the court was to try and “sell him something.”
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