A former staff member of the Republican National Committee and the GOP Senate caucus pleaded guilty in federal court Friday in a plea deal to one count of possessing child pornography, the second GOP Hill staffer to plead to such charges in the last nine months, Politico reports.
Twenty-seven year old Ruben Verastigui pleaded guilty after admitting to admitted to possession of 152 videos and 50 images of child pornography and to receiving and distributing sexual depictions of children. Prosecutors said Verastigui sought out images of rape of children during an online chat last year and fantasized online about killing children while abusing them.
Verastigui worked as digital director for the Joint Economic Committee in 2018 and as digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference from 2019 to 2020, and he was also on the payroll of the RNC from 2017 to 2018. He faces up to 12 years in prison when sentenced in October.
Verasigui is one of at least 18 people of an online community that passed illegal images among the group. Another GOP Washington insider was also arrested as part of the ring.
Last November, Adam Hageman, a Trump Commerce Department political appointee, was arrested for transmitting and possessing child pornography. He was scheduled to enter a guilty plea in April, but the disposition of the case is unclear.