Vincent Deritis, 35, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after a 2023 trial.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A federal appeals court upheld the conviction of a North Carolina man sentenced to 50 years in prison for child sexual exploitation but ordered a review of the $117,000 financial penalty imposed in the case.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Vincent Deritis’s conviction on charges that he secretly recorded his 12-year-old stepdaughter in the shower and took photographs of her while she slept.
Prosecutors said Deritis, 35, hid cameras in the bathroom of his Hickory home and had thousands of images of child sexual abuse on his computer. When police arrived to search his home in April 2019, he attempted to permanently delete data from his hard drives.
A three-judge panel rejected multiple arguments from Deritis’s defense, including claims that evidence from his Google account should have been suppressed and that the jury received improper instructions.
The court did find that the district judge erred by not considering mandatory factors before imposing a special financial assessment of $117,000 under the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.
The judges remanded the case for resentencing solely on the financial penalty, noting the lower court must make “specific fact findings” before determining the appropriate amount.
Deritis was arrested following cyber tips from Microsoft linking child sexual abuse material to his IP address. His 600-month prison sentence remains unchanged by the ruling.
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