Former Oxnard resident sentenced to nearly 20 years for enticing young girl to send sexually explicit pictures

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A former Oxnard resident was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly 20 years in federal prison for using Instagram to entice a 10-year-old girl into sending sexually explicit pictures of herself, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.

Barry Bryant Rossman, currently 63 and formerly of Oxnard, posed as "Ben," purportedly a 21-year-old man, on Instagram in late December 2019 and early January 2020, according to Ciaran McEvoy, public information officer for the Central District of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He used an Instagram account under the name of "itsben6969" to contact a 10-year-old girl in Colorado. When he first contacted the victim, he pretended to have a 13-year-old brother who had "mischievously" taken his phone and reached out to her, McEvoy said.

Rossman continued to talk to the victim, using flattery and discussing topics such as Christmas gifts.

"Over the following days, Rossman’s conversations with the victim became increasingly sexually explicit, and Rossman convinced the victim to send him sexually exploitative photographs of herself," McEvoy said.

After exchanging the photographs, videos, and messages, Rossman told the victim to delete her messages and claimed that his little brother might get into his Instagram account. He said that he did not want his little brother "loving" the photos as he did, McEvoy said.

The victim's mom discovered the messages on her daughter's phone and called the police, she added.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Rossman's Oxnard home in May 2020 and found evidence linking his iPhone to the Instagram account used to contact the victim. A federal search warrant affidavit of Rossman's "itsben6969" account showed that he used the account to contact at least hundreds of minors and used the same ruse that he did with the 10-year-old victim around 1,633 times, according to McEvoy.

Rossman pleaded guilty on May 24 – what was supposed to be the first day of his trial – to one count of producing child pornography, one count of enticing a minor to engage in sexual criminal activity, and one count of receiving child pornography.

He was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly 20 years in federal prison, and was also placed on lifetime supervised released and ordered to pay $427.50 in restitution.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Judge Blumenfeld said that Rossman's actions were "clearly planned, clearly sophisticated, and clearly manipulative."