A Suffolk man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in prison for producing images of child sexual abuse.

According to court documents, Quinton Thomas Myrick, 26, met an 11-year-old girl from Ohio online in December 2018. Myrick convinced the girl to produce child pornography and send it to him, and she complied, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

When Myrick suspected the 11-year-old was talking to other boys, he posted the child pornography on the girl’s social media account. Myrick also produced child pornography with a second minor victim, a 17-year-old girl. When Myrick became angry with her, Myrick also posted her videos on social media.

“These crimes are vile and display the kind of manipulation and vindictiveness Quinton Myrick is capable of,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Production of child pornography is one of the most offensive and serious crimes in the entire criminal code; it involves a real-life child, real-life abuse, and causes incalculable and unknowable harm to victims.”

“HSI will continue to target sexual predators who use the internet to prey on young victims,” said Jim Stitzel, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations Norfolk. “Let this case serve as a lesson to predators who think they can hide behind a screen name. If you target minors, we will target you for arrest.”

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.