Former GOP Hill aide pleads guilty in child porn case

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

A former GOP staffer and Republican National Committee aide pleaded guilty Friday to a child pornography charge and is facing 12 years or more in prison under a plea deal with prosecutors.

Ruben Verastigui, 27, entered the guilty plea from jail during a video conference hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C.

Verastigui admitted to possession of 152 videos and 50 images of child pornography and to receiving and distributing sexual depictions of children.

According to an affidavit filed in the case in February by a Department of Homeland Security investigator, Verastigui sought out images of rape of children during an online chat last year. Prosecutors said Verastigui also fantasized online about killing children while abusing them.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/09/former-hill-aide-pleads-guilty-child-porn-498937

[Ocelot II]

1. The GOP is like a pile of shit, attracting flies and other vermin.

Not that Democrats are 100% pure, but the GOP does seem to have more than its share of creeps, weirdos, pervs, grifters and violent lunatics.

[zuul]

3. They flock to the GOP to hide under the false facade of 'family values.'

[IronLionZion]

2. Qanon keeps on missing these child predators in the GOP

it's like there was a shadowy conspiracy to get them to look at the wrong party or something like that.

[Ocelot II]

7. The reason the possession of kiddie porn is illegal (and reprehensible)

isn't because the perp personally abused a child with his fantasies; it's because the production of child pornography necessarily requires the sexual abuse of children to feed these fantasies. So, yes, by acquiring these images so he could get off on them, he did abuse the children who were used to produce them. No demand = no supply.

[Aristus]

8. I'm not sure this is the right site for defending child pornography.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Ruben Verastigui: Former Trump & Republican Aide Charged in Child Porn Case

Ruben Verastigui is the former Republican aide facing a child pornography charge in Washington, D.C. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, Verastigui was arrested on February 5 following a nearly year-long investigation.

Verastigui was working for the Senate Republican Conference when the investigation began, according to his LinkedIn page. He previously worked for the Republican National Committee and his job included designing digital ads for former President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, Verastigui noted on his LinkedIn account.

Court records show a public defender was assigned to represent Verastigui. Heavy reached out to the attorney for comment. We have not yet heard back.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Verastigui Wrote in a Group Chat That He Enjoyed Watching Pornography Involving Babies: Report

. . .

2. Verastigui Was the President of an Anti-Abortion Group in College & Spoke at a National March for Life Rally in 2013

More:
https://heavy.com/news/ruben-verastigui/

[Lunabell]

6. Twelve years?

When do we actually start protecting children?

[AnnetteChaffee]

10. They only want to protect the children

while in the uterus. Once they are out, they better pull themselves up by their bootstraps cuz they are on their own.

[AnnetteChaffee]

9. Gee

why am i not surprised that nearly every single time a government official gets caught "with their pants down", they are republican?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say 8 out of 10 times, its the hypocritical GOP who get caught, and I may be being generous, it's probably 9/10. How do they EVER think that they are the holders of truth, goodness, or the right way of things? They are in many/most cases, everything that they supposedly stand against! How do those who are actually decent republicans (I'm sure there are some out there ) not see this, or do they see it and they just don't care?

It is sickening and my heart aches over the way my country is right now. It is almost a fight of Light versus Darkness. I know Light will win, but dear goodness, the war is hard on those of us who must live through it....

Namaste
Save the Children
Annette/Orlando

[cate94]

11. What a horrible person