Middlesex man sentenced to 105 years for child exploitation offenses

RICHMOND, VA – Daniel Garith Ebinger, 25, pled guilty in Middlesex County Circuit Court on March 16, 2022, to one count of internet solicitation of a minor, one count of possession of child pornography, first offense, and nine counts of possession of child pornography, second or subsequent offense. Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey W. Shaw accepted Ebinger’s guilty pleas and sentenced him to seven years of active imprisonment with an additional 98 years suspended.

Upon his release, Ebinger will be placed on supervised probation and be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction where he lives or works.

“I am proud of my team for successfully prosecuting this case and ensuring that justice was served. The Office of the Attorney General has no tolerance for crimes against children and will not stop prosecuting these cases to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Miyares.

In 2019 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, headquartered in Alexandria, discovered that an individual had uploaded child pornography to various internet accounts and solicited sexually explicit images online from minors on multiple occasions between 2014 and 2019. Detectives with the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force identified the online predator as Daniel Ebinger when an undercover detective posed as a 15-year-old girl. After learning that he was talking to a 15-year-old, Ebinger continued to engage in sexually charged conversation with the child.

Soon after, officers executed a search warrant at Ebinger’s Middlesex residence where they seized the electronic devices used in the criminal activity. The forensic examination of those devices revealed that Ebigner had saved approximately 200 images of child pornography. Ebinger admitted to his crimes during questioning.

This case was investigated by the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office, as part of the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and Attorney General Miyares’ Computer Forensic Unit. Assistant Attorney General Cynthia Paoletta of the Attorney General’s Computer Crime Section prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth, with assistance from the Middlesex County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.