Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)
WASHINGTON – Victor Armando Simms, 54, a previously convicted sex offender who most recently lived in Southeast Washington D.C., was sentenced today to life in federal prison in connection with his sexual abuse of multiple young girls, recording many of the incidents, and amassing a library of 3,300 still images and over 250 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Chief Sean Ryan of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Simms, aka “Stacey Patrick Simms,” pleaded guilty on May 20, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to first degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse with children, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, and possession of child pornography.
According to court documents, law enforcement was called on January 15, 2023, when a young girl discovered explicit images of child sexual abuse depicting herself on an iPad belonging to Simms. The same day, Simms was formally placed under arrest and charged by complaint with one count of first-degree child sexual abuse in D.C. Superior Court.
On January 17, 2023, the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force executed a search warrant at Simms’s residence and seized multiple electronic devices including an iPad and a one-terabyte external hard drive. In addition, law enforcement agents seized numerous pills and pill bottles, which were believed to be used to sedate the young victims. Many of the videos produced by Simms showed the young victims asleep during the sexual assaults.
The forensic examination of the external hard drive revealed 3300 still images and 250 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, many of which included metadata indicating the date, time, and location where the file was initially produced. The metadata indicated that the minor female victims were sexually exploited and abused by Simms in Washington D.C., and at hotels in Maryland and Virginia. The investigation into this matter also revealed that Simms has engaged in acts of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of minors since approximately 1997.
According to court documents, Simms is a previously adjudicated sex offender. He was convicted in North Carolina in 2005 of indecent liberties with a six-year-old child and a felony child sex act.
According to court documents, Simms used drugs to incapacitate some of the children, but not all, to make it easier to abuse them and to ensure they had no memory of his criminal conduct. He recorded the sexual abuse of these children, including anally and vaginally penetrating them, to ensure he had souvenirs of his crimes to carry with him. He raped and abused at least ten young victims.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents and detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Bond, Sarah Folse, and Caroline Burrell. The prosecution team received valuable assistance from Victim-Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant and Paralegal Specialist Melissa Macechko, as well as former Paralegal Specialist Alexis Spencer-Anderson.
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