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Man pleads guilty to enticing 10-year-old girl
LOS ANGELES — A former Oxnard resident pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges for using Instagram to entice a 10-year-old girl into sending him sexually explicit pictures of herself.
Barry Bryant Rossman, 62, who now resides in Santa Rosa, pleaded guilty on what would have been the first day of his trial to all three charges pending against him: one count of production of child pornography, one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of receipt of child pornography.
According to court documents in late December of 2019 and early January 2020, Mr. Rossman, 60, at the time posed as “Ben,” purportedly a 21-year-old man, and used the Instagram account “itsben6969” to contact the victim — a 10-year-old girl in Colorado.
When Mr. Rossman first reached out to the victim, he pretended to have a 13-year-old brother who had taken his phone and contacted the victim, the federal Department of Justice said in a news release.
Mr. Rossman engaged in conversation with the victim, using flattery and discussing topics such as Christmas gifts. In the following days, the conversations with the victim became increasingly sexually explicit, according to the Department of Justice.
The department said Mr. Rossman convinced the victim to send him sexually exploitative photographs of herself.
After Mr. Rossman and the victim exchanged photographs, videos and messages,
Mr. Rossman instructed the victim to delete her messages, claiming that his little brother might get into his Instagram account.
Mr. Rossman said he did not want his little brother “loving” the photos like he did.
Shortly thereafter, the victim’s mother discovered the messages on her daughter’s phone and called the police.
In May 2020, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Mr. Rossman’s residence in Oxnard and found evidence linking his iPhone to the Instagram account used to contact the victim, the Department of Justice reported.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. scheduled an Aug. 23 sentencing hearing, at which time Mr. Rossman will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The FBI and the Erie (Colo.) Police Department investigated this matter.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chelsea Norell and Kathy Yu of the Violent and Organized Crime Section.
— Katherine Zehnder
Vegetation fire in San Luis Obispo CountyThe Santa Barbara County Fire Department assisted Cal Fire-San Luis Obispo Tuesday with fighting a fire of more than 50 acres in San Luis Obispo County along State Route 166.
The fire was near Bull Canyon Road east of Santa Maria.
No structures were threatened, reported Mike Eliason, a public information officer for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, in a tweet at 4:10 p.m. Tuesday.
— Katherine Zehnder
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