SEATTLE — A former Seattle resident, Richard Stanley Maness Jr., has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his involvement in a scheme to kidnap and sexually abuse children in Vietnam, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Maness, 38, was convicted in August 2025 of producing child sexual abuse imagery as part of a conspiracy with a Vietnamese woman to kidnap children and record their sexual assault.
“In recommending this 30-year-prison sentence, our office is doing everything it can to protect innocent children here and overseas,” said U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd for the Western District of Washington.
The case involved the kidnapping of two young sisters in Vietnam, aged four and seven, who were rescued by local law enforcement in April 2024. The children were taken to an Airbnb rented by Maness, where his coconspirator recorded the abuse, prosecutors say.
Messages between Maness and the coconspirator documented his direction of the abuse, and images were sent to him online. Maness had plans to travel to Vietnam for further abuse before his arrest.
He was arrested in Seattle after Vietnamese authorities contacted Homeland Security Investigations. He has been in federal custody since August 28, 2024.
Judge Richard A. Jones, who sentenced Maness, emphasized the impact on the young victims, stating, “These victims were not candy in a dish for you to take out the one you liked.”
Maness was sentenced to 20 years of supervised release following his prison term.
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