Students react to former VCU officer’s sentence for child pornography charges

Mason Brown
Staff Writer

Former VCU Police officer James DeFord has pleaded guilty to five counts of possession of child pornography and has been sentenced to two years and 10 months imprisonment, according to authorities.

Several students around campus were unaware of the case in which Deford was arrested as part of an undercover joint operation between Richmond Police, the FBI and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Jeremy Price, a student at VCU, was unaware of the Deford story, but felt the sentencing was fair.

“It sounds about right. … I mean if it was a child rapist, it would be a little different. I think the amount of time is right, and he should not be able to be an officer anymore,” Price said.

However, he said he did not feel the need to be informed about the arrest or sentencing since it only pertained to one officer and not the whole department and because of his own apathy towards the department.

“It’s not super surprising one (way) or another. I don’t really feel a lot different about the VCU Police since I don’t have super high expectations for the police (in general).”

Another student, Colleen Hiegel, felt the sentencing was a little too short.

“I feel like he needs a little more time than that. He doesn’t need to go for his whole life or anything like that, but maybe a little more,” she said.

Hiegel found about the DeFord story back in November from her mother, but felt that VCU should inform students about stories like DeFord’s.

“It just seems like VCU doesn’t inform students about a lot unless they have to,” she said.

VCU is required by the Cleary Act to report crimes on and near campus to students. The crimes that must be reported are criminal homicide, sexual offenses, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, arson, motor vehicle theft, liquor and drug law violations, as well as illegal weapons possessions.

However, because DeFord’s residence was in Chesterfield, the crime was considered off-campus.

The investigation, which took place in 2011, saw the arrest of DeFord in November. An undercover officer downloaded a total of six files containing child pornography that came from DeFord via a peer-to-peer network. According to authorities, the officers were then granted a search warrant that was used in obtaining DeFord’s computer.

DeFord later admitted to downloading and possessing child pornography on his computer. The computer had files showing pre-pubesecent children engaged in sexaully explicit content, authorities said.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said the case was an example of Virginia’s commitment to cracking down on child predators.

“The defendant’s possession and trading of child pornography contribute greatly to the emotional and psychological damage suffered by the abused and exploited children depicted in this vile material,” Cuccinelli said in a statement. “This case reaffirms the commonwealth’s commitment to bring child predators to justice, regardless of their public standing or status.”