A Fairfax County jury handed in guilty verdicts Wednesday in the case of a local man accused of manufacturing and possessing child pornography.
Opening arguments in the trial of Ronald Sinacore, 59 of Fairfax, began in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Monday, June 6. Sinacore, a former administrator at George Mason University who has also lived in Springfield, was found guilty on four counts of making child pornography, four counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of extortion.
With Judge Jane Roush presiding, the jury of a eight women and four men listened to evidence through Wednesday morning, before both prosecution and defense rested. After deliberating for an hour and a half, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all 10 counts.
The jury recommended a sentence of a total of 14 years in prison and fines of $10,000. The maximum sentence they could have recommended was 80 years in prison.
Roush is scheduled to impose the formal sentence on Sept. 19. She may reduce the jury’s recommendation, but may not exceed it.
Virginia law does not allow parole in felony cases. However, they do release prisoners who have reached the age of 65 and have served at least five years of their term.
According to police reports, Sinacore had sexual relationships with four boys between the ages of 16 and 18 and videotaped the encounters, dating back to 2002. In two of these cases, police say, he then used the videotapes to try to get two of the boys to either pay him or provide other kinds of services or he would have made the tapes public.
Since the boys were over 16 years old, they could consent to the sex acts. However, it is illegal to record images of sex acts involving people under the age of 18.
During Voir Dire, the process of questioning potential jurors, both the prosecution and defense asked the jury pool repeatedly if they would be able to view the videos and still be able to render an impartial verdict. "I expect that some of the evidence will be difficult to sit through," said Michael Ben’ Ary, the assistant commonwealth’s attorney who is prosecuting the case.
"He met each of these young boys on the Internet," said Ben’ Ary during opening arguments. "For most of these boys, they did not know, at first, that they were being videotaped." Police, in their search of Sinacore’s house found the tapes showing the four young men having sex with him, Ben’ Ary said.
The videotapes are all date-stamped, Ben’ Ary said. He further said he plans to show the camera and show that the date stamp function is still working and correct. "The date of the making of the videos is particularly important," Ben’ Ary said.
The date can help to establish the age of the boys when the tape was made. Additionally, the date stamps would show that they were not one-time encounters. "He [Sinacore] himself refers to the accuracy of the date and time stamps," Ben’ Ary said.
All four of the young men were in high school and were not openly gay. Ben’ Ary said that Sinacore used the threat of "outing" the boys as part of extorting them. "In two of these cases, the defendant makes a demand for money," Ben’ Ary said. The sum he requested was far too much for such young men to be able to pay, Ben’ Ary said.
Sinacore’s attorney, Thomas Lester, argued that the boys may have misrepresented their age to Sinacore. They had each posted personal ads on a Web site dedicated to homosexuals. "Each one of these four young men were interested in having a homosexual relationship with someone they met online," Lester said.
Because they were young and wished to keep their sexual orientation a secret, they needed a companion who was a bit older, like Sinacore, and had his own home. "It is important to note that the evidence will show their sex was consensual," Lester said. "Each one of these men got what they wanted from Ron Sinacore."