A Del Rey man has pleaded guilty to federal charges after using websites and apps like Snapchat to meet and entice children to engage in sexually explicit content via video chat and then take screenshots of them, officials announced Friday.
Mark David Wallin, 42, pleaded to one count of production of child pornography and one count of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to his plea agreement, from 2019 to August 2022, Wallin used the internet to meet pre-teen boys and girls in the U.S. and abroad. He would develop romantic relationships with the victims online with the intent to get sexually explicit images and videos from them. Wallin also convinced the victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct via video chat, which allowed him to take his own pictures and videos, court documents showed.
After the victims sent Wallin the explicit content, he would demand additional images and videos from them, officials said.
In one example from 2020, Wallin enticed a victim, who was 9 or 10, at the time to engage in sexually explicit conduct to be shown to him on Snapchat, officials said.
Wallin admitted to causing at least four additional victims — who from 12 to 16 years old — to create or participate in the creation of multiple files of explicit material featuring themselves.
He also admitted to possessing about 200 sexually explicit videos featuring children in August 2021.
Wallin, who has been in federal custody since last July, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21.