ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage man pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography and to producing child pornography of multiple minor victims known to him, including images of his hands-on sexual abuse of one of the minors.
According to court documents, in 2017, Richard Dougherty, 43, began sexually abusing a minor under the age of 16 that was in his care. Dougherty took photos and videos of the sexual abuse, creating child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Between January 2003 and April 2023, Dougherty possessed, accessed with intent to view, received and distributed CSAM. Some of the CSAM Dougherty distributed were visual depictions, including video, of him sexually abusing the minor victim.
Dougherty also concealed a cell phone within the walls behind bathroom mirrors in his home. He ran cables to the phones and modified the mirrors so he could secretly view and surreptitiously record people in the bathroom. Among the visual depictions Dougherty produced this way were nude images of four victims under the age of 18.
Throughout the course of the investigation, the defendant knowingly possessed over 600 images of CSAM.
He will be scheduled to be sentenced on a later date and faces 30 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman for the District of Alaska, Acting Special Agent in Charge Matthew Murphy of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Pacific Northwest operations and Alaska State Trooper Colonel Maurice Hughes made the announcement.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Alaska State Troopers investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Brickey is prosecuting the case.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Anchorage man pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography and to producing child pornography of multiple minor victims known to him, including images of his hands-on sexual abuse of one of the minors.
