Victor Armando Simms, Previously Convicted Sex Offender, Sentenced for Child Pornography + Rape
In 2019, Victor Simms was my "guidance counselor" at a Ward 8 training center. It was common knowledge among the adult students that he was a registered sex offender (he sexually abused a six-year-old relative in another state). Simms was a creep then, used his position to exert control over students inappropriately, and he was deceptive. Why this man was allowed to work in a school never made sense. Several students and concerned families had contacted DC and Federal authorities, among others, to express their concerns. However, Simms remained employed, and at the time of his arrest in 2023, he was working and living in Southeast, in a home with one of his victims.
Prison is too good for Victor Simms and those like him. However, there is a responsibility in the community to stop keeping these secrets and make allowances for these monsters. Theoretically, everyone should deserve a second chance, but there are limits. One of them should be that convicted sex offenders should not be allowed in schools and/or have contact with vulnerable children and families - specifically single mothers. Given the traumatic consequences of sexual, physical, and verbal abuse and the indoctrination of abusers to their victims to "keep quiet,” it creates a pattern that continues even after child victims become adults and become parents of their own. This system of secrecy continues, including in black families, where we may have been told to keep "family business" in the family.
I read the arrest and search warrant affidavit. The mothers who let Victor Simms live in their homes - even in their children's bedrooms - thought their little girls would be safe unsupervised with a grown man - after all, Simms worked in a position of authority with a reputable organization. One mother knew that Simms was a registered sex offender but thought he was "reformed."
Sexual predators are manipulative. They use any sense of credibility and manipulate trust to take advantage. We should always believe children when they either disclose, or we suspect there is abuse. We should not assume that "someone else" will handle the problem. We can not let the cycle of silence continue to create victims that go out into the world to be preyed on by other predators or, worse, become predators themselves.
Victor Simms
And let me say this clearly: Don't wait until something is proven. We all have a role to play. There are mandatory reporting laws for a reason—if you even suspect something, say something!
We in the community have failed and continue to fail our youth. There should be continuous, comprehensive initiatives, programs, and alerts about sexual and physical abuse and how to spot and prevent it.
In all my years working and advocating for Wards 7 and 8, I have NEVER been unaware of such programming within the community. It should be required for every organization and facility that services children and families. Just because someone is employed in a school, there is no guarantee that the person is not a previously convicted (and, in this case, a registered) sex offender.
Children in under-resourced communities are particularly vulnerable. What may be one person's live-in "boo" that plays with their kids and helps pay the rent could be that child's live-in abuser, and that price is too high to pay.
Things must change.
WASHINGTON – Victor Armando Simms, 54, a previously convicted sex offender who most recently lived in Southeast Washington D.C., was sentenced today to life in federal prison in connection with his sexual abuse of multiple young girls, recording many of the incidents, and amassing a library of 3,300 still images and over 250 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Chief Sean Ryan of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Simms, aka “Stacey Patrick Simms,” pleaded guilty on May 20, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to first degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse with children, three counts of sexual exploitation of children, and possession of child pornography.
According to court documents, law enforcement was called on January 15, 2023, when a young girl discovered explicit images of child sexual abuse depicting herself on an iPad belonging to Simms. The same day, Simms was formally placed under arrest and charged by complaint with one count of first-degree child sexual abuse in D.C. Superior Court.
On January 17, 2023, the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force executed a search warrant at Simms’s residence and seized multiple electronic devices including an iPad and a one-terabyte external hard drive. In addition, law enforcement agents seized numerous pills and pill bottles, which were believed to be used to sedate the young victims. Many of the videos produced by Simms showed the young victims asleep during the sexual assaults.
The forensic examination of the external hard drive revealed 3300 still images and 250 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, many of which included metadata indicating the date, time, and location where the file was initially produced. The metadata indicated that the minor female victims were sexually exploited and abused by Simms in Washington D.C., and at hotels in Maryland and Virginia. The investigation into this matter also revealed that Simms has engaged in acts of child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of minors since approximately 1997.
According to court documents, Simms is a previously adjudicated sex offender. He was convicted in North Carolina in 2005 of indecent liberties with a six-year-old child and a felony child sex act.
According to court documents, Simms used drugs to incapacitate some of the children, but not all, to make it easier to abuse them and to ensure they had no memory of his criminal conduct. He recorded the sexual abuse of these children, including anally and vaginally penetrating them, to ensure he had souvenirs of his crimes to carry with him. He raped and abused at least ten young victims.
This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is composed of FBI agents and detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Bond, Sarah Folse, and Caroline Burrell. The prosecution team received valuable assistance from Victim-Witness Advocate Yvonne Bryant and Paralegal Specialist Melissa Macechko, as well as former Paralegal Specialist Alexis Spencer-Anderson.