A Virginia man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison after prosecutors say he possessed child pornography that he enticed children in McHenry County to send him.
Ali Vann, 30, of Norfolk, Virginia, was charged in February 2023 with 24 counts of child pornography. The charges range from Class X to Class 1 felonies.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court said Vann was found in possession of at least 15 videos.
The videos were saved on Vann’s Snapchat account and showed a young child, who Vann knew was a juvenile, portrayed in a lewd exhibition, the complaint said.
Vann also possessed numerous photographs showing an unclothed child portrayed in a lewd exhibition, the complaint said.
The complaint said that Vann solicited or coerced a child to send him the material.
Prosecutors said the investigation began in November 2022 pertaining to the exchange of sexually explicit photos and videos involving children and another user on Snapchat.
The user was later identified as Vann and it was discovered Vann had been recording the videos of the explicit material that the two children had sent him on the app over the previous two years, prosecutors said.
The investigation revealed that the videos were recorded and saved in Vann’s Snapchat account, prosecutors said.
The case was investigated by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and Norfolk City, Virginia Police Department and an arrest warrant was issued for Vann’s arrest.
Police in Norfolk County, Virginia arrested Vann after the warrant was issued and transported him to the local jail before he was later extradited to McHenry County.
Court records show Vann entered into a negotiated plea deal with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office earlier this week.
He pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography, a Class X felony. The rest of the charges were dismissed.
Vann was sentenced by McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis on Wednesday to 11 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections pursuant to the plea agreement.
Vann will receive day-for-day credit for his sentence and will be on mandatory supervised release for at least three years and up to life following his release from prison.
He will also be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.