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Ex-GOP Senate staffer sentenced to more than 12 years in child porn case
A former GOP Senate staffer has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty in a case involving child pornography. A federal judge sentenced Ruben Verastigui, 29, of Washin…

A former GOP Senate staffer has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty in a case involving child pornography.
A federal judge sentenced Ruben Verastigui, 29, of Washington, D.C., on Thursday to 151 months in prison on a federal charge of receipt of child pornography, the Department of Justice announced.
Verastigui was arrested in February last year and pleaded guilty the following July.
Federal prosecutors say Verastigui, formerly a digital strategist with the Senate Republican Conference, was active in an online group devoted to trading child pornography and discussing child sexual abuse.
The Senate Republican Conference has previously said Verastigui “has not worked at SRC since July 2, 2020.”

Ex-RNC staffer gets more than 12 years in prison in child porn case
Probe that snared Ruben Verastigui allegedly involved at least 18 others, including a former Commerce Department aide.

Verastigui was a digital strategist for the RNC in 2017 and 2018, working on social media advertising for political committees backing former President Donald Trump, according to Verastigui’s LinkedIn page. The digital strategist also worked for the Senate Republican Conference and for a nonprofit group called Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. An anti-abortion activist originally from San Antonio, Verastigui spoke at the March for Life in Washington in 2013, according to a video clip posted online.
Mehta’s sentence for Verastigui was seven months more than the minimum of the range of 144 months to 188 months permitted under a plea deal he struck with prosecutors last year. When Mehta accepted the guilty plea last July, he indicated he was not binding himself to that range and might reject the deal, returning the case for trial. But at Thursday’s court session, the judge agreed to a sentence within those parameters.