Lucas Allen Fussell, a 43-year-old former nurse practitioner from Onley, Virginia, has been sentenced to 87 months in prison for distributing child pornography. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court after Fussell pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of child pornography on December 18, 2024. Judge Rudolph Contreras also ordered Fussell to serve ten years of supervised release and pay a $20,000 fine.
According to court documents, Fussell used an encrypted messaging application to send and receive videos and images showing the rape and sexual exploitation of prepubescent boys with another individual. He also discussed some of his male patients, including children, in these communications and described efforts he made to avoid law enforcement detection.
The investigation began when the FBI obtained the cellphone of another individual involved in the case. In June 2024, Fussell sent nine videos depicting child sexual exploitation to an undercover officer. He was arrested in July 2024 and has remained detained since then.
The case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. This task force includes agents from federal agencies as well as detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. Additional assistance came from the FBI Norfolk Field Office, Accomack County Sheriff’s Office, Onley Police Department, CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
"This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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 justice.gov/psc."
The prosecution team included Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Courtney and Caroline Burrell along with Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV from the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
