Aurora man charged with soliciting child pornography on musical.ly

A west suburban man is facing child pornography charges for enticing underage girls to send him sexually explicit pictures.

Richard Barnett, 39, is charged with one count of producing child pornography and one count of transporting child pornography, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Barnett, of Aurora, used the social network musical.ly to chat with at least four underage girls, prosecutors said. He used the screen name “davidbanks1014” and claimed he was 13 years old.

He contacted three girls in Florida in early May, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Those victims were “born in or around 2005 and 2006.” He also chatted with a 9-year-old girl in Louisiana in June.

While chatting with the girls, Barnett “enticed them to produce pornographic images of themselves and send them to him,” prosecutors said. He threatened to harm at least one of the girls, including threatening to shoot her, if she did not send the images.

Further investigation revealed that the “davidbanks1014” account was created on April 22 using Barnett’s cellphone number, prosecutors said. He was arrested Monday morning, and multiple electronic devices and firearms were seized during a search of his home.

Barnett was scheduled to appear in court for a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors said. The charge of producing child pornography is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, while the charge of transporting child pornography is punishable by between five and 20 years.