Fussell sentencing postponed again

By Linda Cicoira

The sentencing of Lucas Allen Fussell, the former Eastern Shore Rural Health nurse practitioner who admitted to two charges of distributing child pornography in U.S. District Court late last year, has been postponed again.

The government needs more time to review a hard drive and a cell phone belonging to the 43-year-old, according to court records. Fussell provided the passcodes to both devices after they were seized from his residence.

The FBI has been able to access both and has been reviewing the contents.

“However, the drive contains more than 3,000 videos of child sexual abuse material, and the cell phone needs to be reviewed manually due to its operating system.” The review is ongoing.

The prosecution plans to recommend a sentence of 151 months, or more than 12.5 years, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Fussell stated in the record that he would be asking for no more than five years for the crimes and an equal amount of supervised probation.

A document cited his remorse, the neglect, poverty, and abuse he suffered as a child, his dedication to serving the community, and the respect and admiration he receives from his colleagues, patients, and neighbors as reasons for the length of his term.

The mandatory minimum sentence for each offense is five years in prison. The maximum term for each crime is 20 years, and a fine of no more than $250,000.

The sentencing guide is between 151 and 188 months. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro stated, “The sentence recognizes the seriousness of Mr. Fussell’s conduct and ensures that he will be monitored for a significant … time upon his release.”

She called his conduct “egregious. He sought out, possessed, and distributed videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of children, including children as young as toddlers … he boasted about the sophisticated equipment he used to mask his IP address and his identity online … he did not act alone, as he had direct communication with like-minded peers.”

“The conduct that brings … Fussell before the court was not a mistake, nor a one-time occurrence,” she continued. “He purposefully distributed numerous videos of children being raped and exploited over a six-month period, deliberately created a multi-pronged system to both evade detection by law enforcement and to thwart a full reckoning of his conduct if he was caught, and advised another how to engage in the same obstructive behavior.”

“He further deliberately minimized and misrepresented his conduct to the psychosexual evaluator retained by the defense. He attempted to portray his possession” of such items “as incidental, describing the material as merely files that he auto downloaded without knowing what they were, and claims that he only shared … to arouse others because he is sexually aroused by others being sexually aroused.  He further denied being sexually attracted to children. These claims are not credible on their face and are flatly contradicted by the record.”

The prosecutor said Fussell distributed at least 20 videos and images. She added that he made comments about the videos and mentioned his pleasure in considering doing the same to a young relative.

The prosecutor argued that the court “should give no weight to the diagnostic impression or the assessment, as the psychosexual evaluator appears to have reached her conclusion based on his… self-serving statements. While … Fussell has no prior criminal history, his decision to mislead the … evaluator and therefore the court shows a level of ongoing deceit and a failure to fully acknowledge his criminal conduct, both of which impede the success of any rehabilitative efforts,” Pirro added. These “factors weigh in favor of a significant sentence.”

The victims identified in the images and videos distributed by Fussell are not seeking restitution, the record states. Impact statements from several victims have been received and will be submitted in sealed documents.