Amelia man convicted in high profile child porn case

AMELIA – Attorney General Mark R. Herring announced that Xavier Lopez, 30, of Amelia has been found guilty of 12 counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of possession of child pornography, second or subsequent offense. The case was prosecuted by Attorney General Herring’s office and a jury returned a guilty verdict February 17, following a day-long jury trial in Amelia County Circuit Court before Judge Paul W. Cella.  The jury recommended a sentence of eight years of active imprisonment for Lopez’s crimes.

Evidence presented in court showed that Lopez was identified through an undercover peer-to-peer investigation into the online sharing of child pornography conducted by the Bedford County Sherriff’s Office. The investigation traced Lopez to his home in Amelia County.  The Bedford and Amelia County Sherriff’s offices subsequently obtained and executed a search warrant at Lopez’s residence where they seized several computers and electronic devices. A forensic examination of those devices conducted by Attorney General Herring’s Computer Forensics Unit revealed that Lopez had saved approximately 500 images of child pornography on his laptop computer in a peer-to-peer program folder which was available for distribution over the Internet.  Further evidence showed that Lopez had saved dozens of additional images of child pornography on a tablet recovered from the residence.

Following his term of imprisonment, Lopez will be required to register as a sex offender in any U.S. jurisdiction in which he lives, works, or attends school.  Lopez’s next hearing has been set for April 5, 2016 when the court will set a sentencing hearing date.

This case was investigated by officers with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office and the Amelia County Sheriff’s Office as a part of the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  Assistant Attorneys General Brittany Jones and Stacey Rohrs of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth, with cooperation from the Amelia County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.