The Virginia socialite caught in an FBI child abuse trap had her pretrial release offer dismissed after trying to convince a judge she is “an upstanding citizen“, DailyMail.com can reveal.
In an appeal filed in Washington, D.C., where she is being held, Eleanor Hunton Hoppe, 45, argued that she deserved freedom because she graduated from the University of Virginia and had worked at a law firm.
The former wife of Virginia federal judge Joel Hoppe told the court she planned to start a new job at a university before his arrest last month and even offered to live under house confinement supervised by her prominent lawyer father in Richmond, according to documents. judicial. Obtained by DailyMail.com.
Hoppe, who was arrested on March 20 after traveling from her home in Charlottesville to a hotel in Warrenton with an alleged plan to horribly abuse an eight-year-old girl, also claimed she had serious health problems, including multiple sclerosis. in his request for release.
However, in an April 18 court order, a federal magistrate ordered her to remain in custody, stating that “the weight of the evidence against the defendant is strong” and that she is a “serious danger to the community.”
As DailyMail.com reported last week, the mother of two and member of one of Virginia’s most established families were caught up in the FBI sting after texting an undercover agent with explicit and sickening details about what she wanted. do with the child
The officer had been posing in an Internet fetish chat room as the father of a fictional eight-year-old boy. Hoppe, who is charged with child po*rnography and se*xual assault charges, is also accused of sending the officer a 30-second video and three still images of underage girls being severely se*xually assaulted by men.
Eleanor Hunton Hoppe of Charlottesville, Virginia, will remain in custody
The ruling against her release also contains the startling assertion that she “allegedly used her own minor daughters as a lure to engage the undercover officer, who believed she had access to a minor child.” . Her ex-husband, her judge, requested sole custody of her 10- and 12-year-old daughters seven days after her arrest, DailyMail.com previously revealed.
The order in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to keep her behind bars read: “Although there is little or no evidence that Ms. Hoppe poses a flight risk, the government’s allegations suggest that she poses a serious danger to the community. .
First, the government presented evidence that Ms. Hoppe has knowledge of sophisticated encrypted communication platforms, known to law enforcement as popular apps among people who traffic in child po*rnography.
‘Her alleged use of her of these platforms is indicative of awareness of wrongdoing. ‘Secondly, Ms Hoppe’s alleged actions target the most vulnerable population of victims: minor children. ‘Finally, Ms Hoppe’s alleged actions demonstrate a willingness to put other minor children at risk. Considering this high risk of danger to the community, this factor weighs heavily in favor of preventive detention.
‘Taken together, the Court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no combination of conditions could guarantee the safety of the community.’ Hoppe tried to use her wealthy past to try to convince the judge to let her go.
His arrest has shocked communities in Charlottesville and Richmond, where he grew up amid wealth and prestige as a member of a powerful legal family that helped found the city’s largest law firm, now known as Hunton, Andrews, Kurth.
She is the daughter of Eppa Hunton V, who is 75 and still a high-profile lawyer.
The latest ruling against her in DC reads: ‘In support of her application, she argued that she is an upstanding citizen with no criminal record.
Specifically, she noted that she graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree, has two minor daughters, previously worked at a law firm and in nonprofit development, and was ready to start a new job at a local university.
‘EM. Hoppe further noted that she suffers from serious health problems, including multiple sclerosis and restless leg syndrome, and therefore requires intensive medical care that she was unable to receive while she was incarcerated.
‘She offered that her father, a practicing attorney in Richmond, Virginia, could act as a sufficient third-party custodian. As such, she requested that the Court release her on house arrest under whatever conditions the Court deems necessary to ensure the safety of the community.’
Hoppe had previously worked in children’s advocacy and support organizations and volunteered at her prestigious local Episcopal church in Charlottesville, which is affiliated with the University of Virginia, DailyMail.com has revealed.
She faces life in prison if she is convicted of three federal crimes: distribution of child po*rnography, enticement of a minor and attempted transportation of a minor with intent to engage in se*xual activity. Hoppe’s dramatic arrest outside a hotel in Warrenton, Virginia, came after weeks of messages with the undercover FBI agent about a fictional eight-year-old girl she allegedly tried to molest.
The accused mother had logged onto a fetish website where users discuss and exchange images of child se*xual abuse, according to the criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
She allegedly used the screen name ‘titotori’ and initiated an email chat with another user, who was an undercover FBI task force officer based in the Washington DC field office and operating from a satellite location. .
According to the filing, Hoppe told the agent that she was a mother and wanted to talk about “taboo parenting.” The undercover officer replied that he was the father of a girl, at which point Hoppe directed the agent to a social media app that encrypts messages. There she used the name ‘tori4fun’ and in a series of messages starting on February 23 she revealed that she lived in Charlottesville.
The agent asked Hoppe to verify that she was “safe” by sending an image of herself sticking her thumb up near her breast. The photo of her showed her lifting her shirt up, exposing her bare chest and her face partially visible, the filing said.
On February 27, Virginia’s mother allegedly contacted the officer via the app to ask about the abuse she was perpetrating on her daughter, saying, “What do you think your next step will be?”
Throughout the exchange of messages, Hoppe expressed her interest in traveling to Washington to molest the undercover agent’s fictional daughter with him, according to the documents.
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