Fussell denied bond by Federal Judge

By Linda Cicoira

     Bond was denied late Friday in U.S. District Court for Lucas Allen Fussell, a former nurse practitioner with Eastern Shore Rural Health charged with distributing child pornography because he was deemed a flight risk and a threat to public safety.

    The 42-year-old Onley resident was present in the D.C. courtroom with defense lawyer Elizabeth Mullin, who works from Alexandria. She unsuccessfully argued for a bond. Online records stated Fussell waived his right to a preliminary hearing. An arraignment was not scheduled. A status hearing was set for Aug. 19. 

     In addition, a medical/mental health alert regarding the defendant was issued to the Department of Corrections’ medical unit, files stated. There was no further information regarding the reason for the alert.

     A speedy trial was excluded through Aug. 19, “in the interest of justice,” the record continued.

    Federal prosecutor Paul V. Courtney filed papers with the court earlier Friday asking for Fussell to be held until trial. The defendant was arrested Tuesday when FBI agents raided his Coastal Boulevard home after an investigation allegedly caught him sending sexually explicit videos and images of boys and men to a covert FBI agent on June 22 and June 30. He was charged in a criminal complaint with the distribution of child pornography.

     Fussell began working for Rural Health, which has four medical centers on the Shore, in 2012. His own company, Compassion in Care MMC LLC, is headquartered at his house, records on the Virginia State Corporation Commission website show. That limited liability company was formed about two years ago.

     “The defendant’s conduct … was particularly egregious in that it involved the distribution of videos and images depicting the sadistic sexual abuse of children,” Paul V. Courtney wrote in the file.

     The lawyer said Congress has determined those charged with such a crime should be detained pending trial, and are subject to a five-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment upon conviction. Courtney said “for using a computer or interactive computer service … and for the number of images, based on the evidence available at this early stage of the case,” the range for the crime is 17.5 to 21.8 years in prison.

     The possibility that Fussell would flee if released was also a concern, the lawyer said.

     Fussell “has no known criminal history,” according to the record. However, “he appears to have a long-standing interest in child pornography and to have employed relatively sophisticated measures to evade detection by law enforcement,” the motion continued.

     “This case does not just involve … an end-to-end encrypted messaging application,” the lawyer said. “The defendant took substantially more premeditated and sophisticated measures to evade detection” by setting up a private video network on his router, buying a dedicated cellphone, installing a system for pixels, using a flash drive with hardware-based encryption, and watching child pornography on a laptop not connected to the internet.

     He “was conscious” that distributing such materials is illegal and “engaged in it anyway,” which “raises significant concern about the defendant’s ability to avoid or circumvent supervision if released.”

     Evidence against Fussell is “strong” and despite using encryption methods he provided his home address, identified the model of his vehicle, and revealed that he worked in the medical profession by making numerous comments about examining patients, the prosecutor continued. He lived alone and his residence was searched and items were seized.

     The prosecutor argued that Fussell violated a trust “when he discussed how examining … his patients was sexually gratifying. “He also suggested that he might give an adult patient medically unnecessary genital examinations in the future. “The significant abuse of trust also brings up his ability to abide by any conditions of release,” the prosecutor argued.

     The health group terminated his employment and set up a hotline for patients to ask questions or report potential concerns. Fussell has no known ties to the jurisdiction and has now lost a significant tie to his community, which is nearly 180 miles away from the D.C. court where he will be tried, Courtney continued.

     Severe mental, emotional, and physical trauma results in the victims of child pornography, the motion stated.  “The totality of his conduct and personal circumstances demonstrates that he is an unmitigable danger to the community and a flight risk … distribution on the internet causes significant additional harm to victims, who live with persistent concern over who has seen images of their sexual abuse … “

     It could not be determined from online information if Fussell’s lawyer presented a written argument.