A Portland, Oregon, man has pleaded guilty to multiple sex crimes against a Louisa County minor.
Daniel R. Thomas submitted his guilty plea in Louisa County Circuit Court “at the last minute” on Wednesday, according to the Louisa commonwealth’s attorney.
The charges against Thomas included one count of indecent liberties with a minor less than 14 years of age, three counts of production of child pornography and two counts of soliciting a minor over a communication device.
Thomas will face up to 130 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 15, the commonwealth’s attorney said in a statement.
An investigation into Thomas was launched in early 2022, after a Louisa father checked his child’s mobile phone and discovered an “inappropriate conversation,” according to the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office.
A forensic examination of the phone found “exploitative conversations” and determined that the other party in the conversation had a Portland area code, the sheriff’s office reported. The number, according to law enforcement officials, was linked to a man, now identified as Thomas, living in a Portland halfway house.
Louisa authorities worked with police in Portland who executed a search warrant on the halfway house where they discovered the phone the child had been messaging in Thomas’ possession, police said.
Thomas told police at the time he had recently left prison and was on probation, according to the sheriff’s office report. Thomas has two prior convictions for sexual assault of minors less than 14 years of age in Portland, according to authorities on the West Coast.
Virginia State Police assisted in extraditing Thomas back to Virginia, according to the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office.
In court, the prosecution argued that Thomas was a “serial offender “ and his two prior convictions were similar enough to Virginia’s aggravated sexual battery statute to press for “enhanced punishment” under Virginia code.
The case was scheduled for a two-day trial, but Thomas pleaded guilty on Wednesday before the case could proceed.
At the very least, Thomas will face 20 mandatory years in prison, according to the commonwealth’s attorney. He could face up to 130 years, depending on the judge’s sentence.
“I guess the message did not reach Portland to not exploit our children in Louisa County,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Portland Police Bureau did not comment on McGuire’s remarks nor its involvement in the case.
When The Daily Progress requested information on the arrest and charges against a Daniel R. Thomas, a Portland police spokesman responded, “That’s a pretty common name.”
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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