(NEXSTAR) — A Vermont man pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges that he commissioned a Venezuelan woman to make videos of the torture of a boy and the torture and killing of a man, prosecutors said.
The Vermont U.S. Attorney’s office said Sean Fiore, 37, a former Burlington nurse, is facing life in prison after admitting he used WhatsApp to ask the Venezuelan woman to make the videos. He initially paid $600 in Amazon gift cards to the woman, identified as Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 3, 2018, Vasquez Flores sent Fiore a link to a video file “depicting sadistic abuse of a prepubescent boy consistent with Fiore’s specifications,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Then in December 2018, Fiore agreed to pay the woman $4,000 for a second video showing the torture and killing of a “slave” she intended to kidnap in Venezuela, according to prosecutors. Fiore specified to the woman the “types of physical abuse, humiliation, and manner of death” he wished to see her inflict on the kidnapped man in the video, prosecutors said.
Fiore received a link in April 2019 to a 58-minute video “depicting the requested sadistic abuse and possible death of an adult male,” prosecutors said.
Fiore pleaded guilty to four counts, including conspiracy to kidnap, maim or murder a person in a foreign country, murder for hire and conspiracy to produce child pornography.
Vasquez Flores is in custody in Colombia while prosecutors seek her extradition to the United States to face charges in the case. She is charged with conspiracy to murder and kidnap a person in a foreign country, conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography, and aiding and abetting the receipt of child pornography.
Fiore’s plea agreement suggested a sentence of a minimum of 15 years or up to life in prison. The sentence, which is scheduled for March, will be up to the judge.
Fiore remains in custody pending sentencing.