Matoaca man gets 30 years in prison for producing child pornography; other charges dropped
RICHMOND — A Matoaca man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and put on lifetime supervised release for producing child pornography over a period of several years through enticing and then extorting his victims to perform online explicit acts while he recorded them.
Joshua Clayton Brady, 36, pleaded guilty last January as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors. In exchange for the plea to producing the pornography, prosecutors dropped five other charges against him, including receiving child pornography and various fraud and identification-theft charges. Brady must also pay restitution to his victims totaling more than $34,000 upon his release from prison, undergo psychiatric treatment and register as a sex offender in Virginia.
In addition, he is banned for life from Internet use, and he cannot have unsupervised contact with any minors unless his probation officer approves it.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, it's the minimum amount of time Brady could receive for his conviction. Had he not reached the plea agreement and been convicted by a judge or jury, he could have received a life sentence.
There is no parole for federal sentences, but prisoners are eligible to be released early if they maintain good behavior and follow court-ordered stipulations while behind bars.
According to a sentence report, it was recommended Brady serve his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Prince George County.
According to his indictment, which was handed up in March 2021, Brady used the pseudonyms "Joshua Weston" and "Theo Schwarzman" to meet adult and underage females over social-media platforms. He also falsely claimed to be tied to wealthy British and American families during his contacts, which date back to late 2015.
Brady would then ask his victims to perform sexual acts in front of their cameras while he recorded them. Occasionally he would threaten them with exposure, or offer them money or job opportunities if they hesitated.
Brady has a history of brushes with the law. A check of criminal records in Chesterfield Circuit Court show 19 charges, including passing worthless checks and obtaining money under false pretenses, against him as far back as 2010.
In 2020, he pleaded guilty to a charge of bribing a 17-year-old girl to file a false sexual assault charge against a teenage boy. He was sentenced to five years in prison with four of them suspended.
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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist and daily news coach for USA TODAY Network's Atlantic Region which includes Virginia. He is based in Petersburg, Virginia. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Matoaca man gets 30 years in federal prison for producing child porn
