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    • Thomas Hungerford to plead guilty in federal child pornography case
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    Thomas Hungerford to plead guilty in federal child pornography case

    Online Niel Posted on

    A Grand Rapids man accused of peering through the window of a girl’s home and secretly recording her in an “intimate moment” is scheduled to plead guilty Friday in federal court and faces at least 15 years in prison.

    Grandville Building Superintendent Thomas Hungerford, 54, is expected to admit to videotaping a minor in August 2023 without her knowledge or consent, according to a copy of his plea agreement obtained by The Detroit News.

    The video showed “a female under the age of 18 engaging in sexually explicit activities and specifically depicting the lewd exposure of her genitalia…”, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court Thursday. “The defendant made the recording on his iPhone and saved it to a removable storage device…”

    Hungerford’s attorney, Pavol Fabian, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

    Hungerford is scheduled to plead guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child at 3:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney in federal court in Kalamazoo. The hearing comes five months after Hungerford was arrested, accused of stealing underwear from a high school girl’s locker room and bragging about his exploits online under the pseudonym “Barry Sanders.”

    As part of his sentence, Hungerford faces up to 30 years in prison and must register as a sex offender.

    In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop two counts of distributing child pornography, each of which carries up to 20 years in prison.

    People convicted of federal child pornography offenses in western Michigan face harsher sentences than in the eastern part of the state. Since 2015, at least 82 people convicted in federal court in western Michigan have received an average sentence of more than 11 years in federal prison. In the eastern part of the state, 255 people were sentenced to an average of eight years in prison during the same period.

    The unsealed federal child pornography case described online fantasies, real-world crimes and observations during an alleged wrongdoing that targeted girls in the western part of the state.

    “Hungerford also discussed going to public locations, such as gyms, to watch and film/photograph young girls wearing tight clothing such as tank tops or leggings,” FBI Special Agent Aaron Eastham wrote in a federal court affidavit.

    The criminal case filed in May alleged that Hungerford exchanged messages with a subject of an FBI child pornography investigation in Nebraska as recently as March.

    During that investigation, agents seized a cell phone and found messages in an encrypted app that used dark web technology to provide users with security and privacy.

    Agents focused on messages between the subject and a user identified as “Barry Sanders,” who investigators would soon identify as Hungerford, according to the affidavit.

    The messages began in November and involved both users discussing their interest in pedophilia, the agent wrote.

    “Have you admitted that you’re a paedo yet?” Hungerford wrote in one message, according to the government.

    “It took me a long time and I denied it forever,” added Hungerford. “But when I finally admitted that I was a paedo, it was like an awakening. I’m actually embracing it now.”

    During the talks, Hungerford said she had a lot of non-nude and nude images and videos of children, the agent wrote. In February, Hungerford shared a video of a 6-year-old girl being raped, according to the affidavit.

    In other conversations, Hungerford talked about his interest in prepubescent girls, the government alleges. He wrote “I want to touch a pre-teen so bad!!!!” in November and had a specific girl in mind, according to the FBI.

    “We have a few friends whose daughter is SMOKING HERBS!! She’s a gymnast,” Hungerford wrote.

    The Hungerford case is the latest involving sex crime allegations and gymnasts in Michigan.

    David Yellen, a Royal Oak youth gymnastics photographer convicted of distributing child pornography, is awaiting sentencing in federal court after prosecutors say he spent two decades taking pictures of the bare legs and genital areas of about 1,100 young gymnasts wearing T-shirts.

    Yellen is described in court filings as a predator with a foot fetish who victimized children as young as 3 in the nation’s gymnastics community at the same time as the former Michigan State University gymnastics doctor and USA Gymnastics doctor , Larry Nassar. Nassar was accused of sexually assaulting more than 500 young, teenage and prepubescent girls under the guise of medical treatment over two decades and is serving a life sentence.

    In the Hungerford case, investigators say he sent the Nebraska subject photos of a child’s T-shirt in late November and an iPad screen showing what appeared to be a half-naked prepubescent girl.

    In late January, Hungerford shared a video of a prepubescent girl walking dogs and doing gymnastics while wearing a one-piece swimsuit or T-shirt, according to the affidavit. He also shared a voice message.

    “I want to touch that little girl really bad,” a man’s voice says during the message, according to the FBI agent.

    During talks in late January, Hungerford and the Nebraska subject discussed whether he would sexually abuse a child, the court filing alleged.

    “Awfully tempting. I think I could if she was drugged,” Hungerford wrote. “That way no one would know.”

    The criminal record mentions another chat.

    On Nov. 6, Hungerford wrote that he was outside a dance studio watching children, according to the FBI agent.

    “Something dear?” wrote the Nebraska subject.

    “… omg yes,” Hungerford wrote.

    Hungerford explained that he did not take any photos or videos that day.

    “I kind of park outside where all the parents park for obvious reasons,” he wrote. “I can see them coming and going MUCH better, but they’re a little further off. Next time I’ll get right into the mix.”

    From November to March, Hungerford sent messages about looking through the minor girls’ windows, breaking into their homes and stealing their underwear, the agent alleged.

    “He claimed to have recorded sex videos of one of the girls with her boyfriend,” Eastham wrote.

    “I’ve been spying on her and her little sister for about 6 months,” Hungerford wrote in one chat. “It’s been a while since I looked at her.

    “I recorded her in a VERY intimate moment with her and her boyfriend,” added Hungerford.

    Other messages describe attempts to watch the girls through windows at night, according to the FBI.

    “He said he believed the younger girl was either a freshman or junior in high school and the older girl was probably a senior in high school,” the FBI agent wrote.

    Hungerford’s actions escalated in December, according to the government.

    On Christmas Eve, Hungerford allegedly entered the girls’ home “while the family was away,” the agent wrote.

    “He sent pictures of girls’ clothes, including underwear, which he said he stole from the older girl’s bedroom,” according to the FBI agent. “He said he was thinking of going back, while the family wasn’t home, because he wanted to ‘take advantage and get into the younger BR’.”

    During the discussion, Hungerford wrote that he lived on a lake in western Michigan and worked as a construction superintendent. Property records show Hungerford lived in a 3,400-square-foot home overlooking Whispering Springs Lake, about 10 miles southwest of Grand Rapids.

    The home sold earlier this month for $676,900.

    The investigation intensified in May.

    On May 2, FBI agents obtained information about subscribers to the “Barry Sanders” account who had exchanged messages with the Nebraska subject. An Internet Protocol address associated with the account was linked to Hungerford’s home.

    “Hungerford admitted to having child pornography on his cell phone, tablet, as well as two USB drives that were in his pocket,” the FBI agent wrote.

    “(Hungerford) admitted to being attracted to girls between the ages of 8-14 and admitted to taking photographs of children in public places such as parks and stores,” according to the affidavit. “He was also looking at the kids in the parking lot of the dance studios.”

    During the interview, Hungerford admitted to breaking into the homes of two families with children ages 9-18 and “stole various articles of clothing and underwear from the children who lived there,” according to the affidavit.

    “One of the homes where he watched the juvenile through the window at night on several occasions and claimed to have recorded a video of a girl he believed to be 16 or 17 years old,” the agent wrote. “He also admitted to entering a high school girl’s locker room at an afterschool event and stealing underwear from the lockers.”

    The high school is not identified in the court filing. Without identifying Hungerford, Grandville Superintendent Roger Bearup notified community members in May that school officials were investigating and had issued a “no trespassing” order against a community member.

    “He, like all of our parents, does not have unsupervised access to our school during the school day, however he has been in our buildings for sporting events and meetings after school,” Bearup wrote. “We have no evidence that he ever entered the girls’ locker room at Grandville High School, however we are investigating.”

    FBI agents searched Hungerford’s home in May and found “numerous pairs of underwear and children’s clothing,” according to the affidavit.

    Investigators also looked at USB drives found in Hungerford’s pockets.

    “Several files were observed with names indicating child pornography and child pornography sites,” the agent wrote. “In some files, images and videos were observed that were likely known victims of child pornography, according to the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children.”

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