‘SHE NEEDS TO EARN HER WAY’
Federal prosecutors charge Mathews man in child porn case
The text messages were direct and to the point, according to court documents.
If the girl agreed to pose for sexually explicit images that could be sold to others, she would get paid.
“If she isn’t working then no clothes, no travel, no phone and no activities like movies,” William Wellington Hooper Jr. said in a text message to a woman he knew, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday.
He encouraged the woman to demand 25% of what the girl made.
“She needs to earn her way and continue her submissive training,” Hooper said in a text.
Hooper, 53, of Mathews County, was indicted earlier this month in federal court. He’s charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography and two counts of coercion and enticement of a child.
If convicted, Hooper, the owner of Williams Wharf Oyster Company LLC, faces mandatory minimums of 15 years in prison on the conspiracy and production charges and 10 years in prison on the coercion and enticement
charges, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Court documents do not list a defense attorney.
According to the federal indictment, the scheme started in April or early May 2019. Prosecutors said Hooper gave a co-conspirator, Jennifer Mae Hutchens, money to give to the girl as payment for taking sexually explicit photos on his yacht in Mathews County. The girl was also given money to purchase clothes to wear in the explicit photos.
In February, Hutchens, 53, of Hayes, was indicted on five counts of production of child pornography. A guilty plea hearing is set for June 12 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
Hooper’s indictment alleges that Hutchens took sexually explicit photos of the girl in Gloucester County and sent them to Hooper over the internet.
At one point, the indictment says the girl complained she was not receiving enough money for the photos.
“I can only pay you what they pay me,” Hooper responded, according to the indictment.
The indictment says he also asked the girl to recruit other minors.
“Don’t forget if you have a straight GF that you trust I will pay you part of her money any time she shoots,” read another text mentioned in the indictment. “But no boyfriends lol.”
Hooper was first arrested in connection with these child porn allegations last November in La Plata, Maryland. He was extradited Dec. 19 to Mathews County, where he faced charges in state court.
In November, the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office said it executed search warrants at Hooper’s home, the yacht and his business.
Investigators said they found evidence of graphic material that included Hooper and the girl, and graphic content involving other people, though they would not say how many.
This is not Hooper’s first run in with the law. Hooper, a former manager at Oceaneering International Inc. of Chesapeake, was previously convicted in 2013 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk on charges relating to a kickback scheme involving Navy contracts. He was sentenced to 13 months in prison and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.