A former Republican Capitol Hill staffer who served as an aide to the Republican National Committee pleaded guilty to child pornography charges Friday.
Ruben Verastigui, 27, faces at least 12 years behind bars after he worked out a deal with prosecutors and admitted to possessing 152 videos and 50 sexually explicit images depicting children during a U.S. District Court hearing in Washington, D.C., before Judge Amit Mehta.
EXCLUSIVE: ALLEGATIONS HUNTER BIDEN STORED CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ON LAPTOP SENT TO FBI
Verastigui sought out pictures depicting child rape and fantasized online about killing them during abuse, a Department of Homeland Security investigator said in February.
The 27-year-old also admitted to distributing some images and videos from his collection.
Mehta accepted the deal, though he reserved judgment on the 12- to 15-year sentence proposed by prosecutors. As part of the agreement, Verastigui will not face charges in Arizona, which was once a possibility.
Verastigui was on the payroll of the RNC from 2017 to 2018 before he served as a digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference from 2019 to 2020. In 2018, he worked as digital director for the Joint Economic Committee.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Verastigui was jailed as part of a larger investigation in which 18 others were suspected of trading child pornography in a group chat. At least one other political aide was nabbed in the investigation as Adam Hageman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump’s Commerce Department, was arrested on similar charges in November.
