Springfield Man Poses Online as Teen Girl, Convicted for Child Porn

A Springfield man who posed as a teen girl online in order to get boys to send him nude photos was convicted Wednesday in federal court of three counts of producing child pornography, according to the Justice Department.

Faisal Hashime, 20, of Springfield, pled guilty to the charges on Sept. 12 and was found guilty Wednesday in a "bench trial" with U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkman.

Sentencing for the crimes is scheduled for Dec. 7. Each count carries a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years.

The investigation of Hashime began after he sent images of child pornography to an undercover agent. After executing a search warrant, authorities searched Hashime's e-mail and recovered numerous e-mails where Hashime had contacted underage boys pretending to be "Tracy," a teenage girl.

While acting as “Tracy,” Hashime "flirted, developed intimate friendships, engaged in explicit online conversation with them, and—often over the course of months—requested, cajoled, seduced, guilted and encouraged them to take and send pictures of their naked bodies and genitalia. After obtaining several images of boys’ genitalia, Hashime then distributed several of the images to others online," according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride, Eastern District of Virginia.

Hashime admitted to authorities that he was posing as "Tracy" online.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, according to the news release.

Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.