Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290728
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Medium

MAN CONVICTED IN PLOT TO KILL BOY FOR PORNO FILM

Authorities said Daniel Thomas DePew, 28, and a co-conspirator were arrested before the plot could be carried out.

DePew was convicted on two charges of conspiracy Wednesday by a U.S. District Court jury after 2 1/2 days of evidence and testimony that included videotapes of violent sexual acts between DePew and a lover, and audio recordings of graphic conversations DePew had with another man and undercover police officers in San Jose, Calif.

The recorded conversations included discussions of torturing a child for the production of a movie.

According to testimony, the conspiracy involved plans to kidnap a child in Virginia, sexually abuse and torture him on film for two days, kill the child and wash the body in acid to remove evidence, and dump the body in a Maryland swamp.

DePew testified that the plan was never intended to be carried out.

A psychiatrist who evaluated DePew at a federal prison in Buttner, N.C., testified Wednesday that DePew posed no harm and was not considered a pedophile.

During the investigation, police established a long-distance computer correspondence with DePew and Dean Ashley Lambey through a computer bulletin board for pedophiles.

Lambey, 34, of Richmond, pleaded guilty last fall and is serving a 30-year sentence.

DePew was arrested after a seven-month undercover operation conducted by San Jose police and the FBI.

Prosecutors said DePew began conspiring with Lambey last May, and had several meetings with Lambey or undercover officers who were posing as pornographic movie producers before his Aug. 14 arrest.