Vermont man sentenced for commissioning torture, child sex abuse, and 'sadistic' videos
03/31/2022 10:45 am PDT
BURLINGTON, Vt. (TCD) -- A 38-year-old man was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison after commissioning torture, sex abuse, and child sex abuse videos from overseas.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont, in September 2018, Sean Fiore contacted a woman in Venezuela via WhatsApp. Fiore told the woman he wanted to purchase a video of a kidnapped child being tortured and referred to the juvenile as a "slave," the U.S. Attorney's Office says.
Fiore ended up paying $600 in Amazon gift cards for the video and sent instructions on the abuse he wanted to see in the video. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, on October 3, 2018, a video "depicting sadistic abuse of a prepubescent boy" was sent to Fiore.
Fiore also asked the woman to see the torture and killing of another kidnapped juvenile on video, the U.S. Attorney's Office says. In their conversation, Fiore expressed the kind of physical abuse, humiliation, and manner of death he wanted to see. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he agreed to pay $4,000 for the second video in December 2018. Then in April 2019, Fiore was sent a hyperlink to a video showing the abuse and possible death of an adult man.
In his possession, Fiore had additional media depicting minors in sexual situations and being sexually abused.
On Wednesday, March 30, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Fiore was sentenced to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap and murder a person overseas, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and possession of child pornography. Fiore was ordered to serve a lifetime term of supervised release and pay restitution to nine victims, as well as a $400 special assessment, the U.S. Attorney's Office says.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the woman who allegedly sent the videos to Fiore, 39-year-old Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores, was charged with conspiracy to murder and kidnap a person in a foreign country, conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography, and aiding and abetting the receipt of child pornography. She was reportedly arrested on Sept. 18, 2020, in Colombia.
In a statement, Special Agent in Charge Matthew Millhollin for Homeland Security Investigations in New England said, "Fiore committed some of the darkest, most heinous deeds humanity can imagine."
MORE:
