Richard Wellbeloved-Stone Charged in Four-Count Federal Indictment
Charlottesville, VIRGINIA - A Charlottesville man was indicted today on child pornography charges, Acting United States Attorney Rick A. Mountcastle announced.
Richard Wellbeloved-Stone, 57, was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville on three counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
The investigation of the case is ongoing and is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Charlottesville Police Department, the Virginia State Police and the Albemarle County Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Nancy S. Healey and Trial Attorney Leslie Williams Fisher of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section will prosecute the case for the United States.
A Grand Jury Indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is entitled to a fair trial with the burden on the government to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
