Caregiver gets 18 years for child sex abuse

A 29-year-old Oakland man was sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 6 and recording more than 20,000 images of the assaults.

D’mar Dwain Jennings Conway was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey S. White after he pleaded guilty on March 7 to one count of child exploitation.

During the sentencing hearing, White told Conway that the repeated assaults were “truly devastating” to the young victim and could scar the child’s psyche for life.

Once Conway completes his 220-month federal prison sentence, he must register as a sex offender and will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life, White ordered.

“The conduct for which Mr. Conway was sentenced is reprehensible and Judge White’s decision to sentence the defendant to more than 18 years in prison reflects the seriousness of that conduct,” said U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch.

During a March 2016 search of Conway’s home in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, federal agents uncovered nearly 25,000 images on a camera of Conway engaging in sex acts with the child. Conway admitted the images were taken inside his residence, officials said.

Conway also told investigators he served as the caregiver for the victim, whom officials described as being between 3 and 6 years old.

The investigation, conducted by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, also uncovered more than 460 images of child pornography on Conway’s cell phone, officials said.

“Although justice was served with this lengthy sentence, the damage this defendant inflicted on his innocent victim cannot truly be measured,” said Ryan L. Spradlin, special agent in charge of the HSI San Francisco field office, which investigates a variety of crimes including child exploitation. Conway was indicted on June 16, 2016, and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children, and one count of possession and access with intent to view child pornography.

He pleaded guilty to the first charge under a plea agreement.