Virginia man who drove to WNC for sex acts with toddler federally convicted, sentenced
ASHEVILLE — A Virginia man was sentenced in Asheville federal court Jan. 16 for traveling to Hendersonville to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a toddler, as announced by U.S. Attorney Dena J. King of the Western District of North Carolina.
James Edward Whisenant, Jr., 50, of Suffolk, pleaded guilty Nov. 30, 2022, to traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, the announcement said. Whisenant was sentenced to 210 months, or 17.5 years, in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.
U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn ordered Whisenant to register as a sex offender after his release from prison and pay $39,500 in restitution to the 11 victims he had child pornography videos of, according to a sentencing memorandum obtained by the Citizen Times.
Man guilty in child pornography trial: Asheville federal court: Indiana man guilty of distributing child pornography in WNC
Agents with Homeland Security Investigation’s Greenville, South Carolina office began a “covert, online investigation” on March 3, 2022, to target people using the dark web and seeking to travel across state lines for illicit sex acts with minors, according to an affidavit obtained by the Citizen Times.
Soon after, an agent began messaging with a user by the name of “Wacky Weasel,” later identified as Whisenant, who expressed interest in engaging in sexual intercourse with the agent’s purported 4-year-old daughter, the affidavit said.
The agent and Whisenant continued messaging over the next two months on a different encrypted messaging application and a couple of times over the phone, with Whisenant going into detail about hotel plans, what he’d like the fictitious child to wear and other explicit descriptions of what he intended to do.
Private school sex abuse: Ex-Christ School student claims sexual abuse by Asheville teacher, bullying by students
Alleged child rape: Court records: Former Asheville-area health care director indicted in child rape case
Four days after they began messaging, the defendant sent the agent five website links via a dark web encrypted email address, three of which contained child pornography images, according to the affidavit.
When law enforcement later seized his electronic items and conducted forensic analysis, they “recovered hundreds of images and videos containing child pornography,” the announcement said.
On May 27, 2022, Whisenant drove from Suffolk, Virginia, to Hendersonville, messaging the agent that he had arrived at a hotel at 11 a.m. The agent then messaged Whisenant the address of a pre-determined meeting location, according to the affidavit.
“During the meeting the (agent) and Whisenant discussed the conversations they had been having via the dark web chat room,” the affidavit said. “Whisenant admitted to continuing to actively search for a mother with a child in the event that the meeting with the (agent) and the (agent’s) purported child fell through.”
Corrections officer federally sentenced: Corrections officer traveled to WNC for sex with toddler; sentenced in federal court
Whisenant also told the agent about his previous alleged experiences with minor children, including sexually assaulting two minor females when he was 16 years old, according to the affidavit.
After talking with the agent for just under an hour, the 50-year-old was arrested by law enforcement agents as he was walking toward his Chevrolet truck.
This case was a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative marshalling federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet. Project Safe Childhood was launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice.
Sexual assault of children is a rampant public health problem in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys experience child sexual abuse at some point in childhood.
Keeping children safe online
The U.S. Attorney's Office encourages parents, guardians and caregivers to take the following measures to increase online safety:
Discuss internet safety and develop an online safety plan with children for engaging in online activity. Establish clear guidelines, teach children to spot red flags, and encourage children to ask questions and have open communication with you.
Supervise young children's use of the internet, including periodically checking their profiles and posts. Keep electronic devices in open, common areas of the home and consider setting time limits for their use.
Review games, apps and social media sites before they are downloaded or used by children. Pay particular attention to apps and sites that feature end-to-end encryption, direct messaging, video chats, file uploads, and user anonymity, which are frequently relied upon by online child predators.
Adjust privacy setting and use parental controls for online games, apps, social medial sites, and electronic devices.
Avoid sharing personal information, photos and videos online in public forums or with people you do not know in real life. In particular, explain to children that images posted online will be permanently on the internet.
Teach children about body safety and boundaries, including the importance of saying ‘no’ to inappropriate requests both in the physical world and the virtual world.
Be alert to potential signs of abuse, including changes in children’s use of electronic devices, attempts to conceal online activity, withdrawn behavior, angry outbursts, anxiety, and depression.
Encourage children to tell a parent, guardian or other trusted adult if anyone asks them to engage in inappropriate behavior.
Immediately report suspected online enticement or exploitation of a child by alerting local law enforcement, contacting the FBI at tips.fbi.gov, or filing a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org.
For more information, helpful tools and additional resources please visit the FBI's Safe Online Surfing at https://sos.fbi.gov/en/.
Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Man convicted for traveling to Western NC for sex acts with minor
