Virgil Odis Huskey - Abused 2 year old - took photos- then lost them in the mens room

A 34-year-old Silver Spring man indicted in June on a charge of producing child pornography pleaded guilty Friday to taking pictures of himself sexually abusing a 2-year-old girl, according to a news release from the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland.

Virgil Odis Huskey, who is in federal custody, faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years and a maximum 30 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 29 in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said the case fell under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from Internet exploitation and abuse and uses federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute those who exploit children online.

He said defendants prosecuted under the project face "substantial federal penalties … and sentences that wouldn't be given in state court."

Rosenstein also said defendants prosecuted in federal court are not eligible for parole.

According to his plea agreement, Huskey took photographs of a 2-year-old girl engaged in sexual activity on his cell phone camera and apparently left his phone in a men's restroom at a store in Silver Spring. Someone found it Nov. 24, 2006, opened the flip part of the phone to determine its owner and saw an image on the display screen of an adult engaged in a sexual act with a child.

The citizen called Montgomery County Police who identified the phone as Huskey's, the release said.

Five days later, police interviewed Huskey, who admitted the phone was his and that he had lost it. He told police that the child depicted in the images was 2 years old and that he had used the phone a few months prior to take seven photos of himself sexually abusing the child, according to the release.

As part of the plea agreement, Huskey will be required to register as a sex offender.