Vermont Nurse Admits Paying Woman To Kidnap, Torture 'Slaves'; Videos Used For Pleasure

A 37-year-old former nurse from Vermont paid a woman from another country to make two separate videos of a child being abused and a man being tortured to death, state prosecutors said.

Sean Fiore pleaded guilty Thursday to murder-for hire, conspiracy to kidnap or murder a person in a foreign country, conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont (USAO-VT) said in a statement.

Fiore agreed to pay his co-defendant Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores $4,000 in December of 2018 to kidnap, torture and murder a "slave" in Flores' home country of Venezuela, according to prosecutors. The two used messaging service WhatsApp to communicate, with Fiore going by the alias "Marcus," while Flores used "Johana."

The former nurse provided specific instructions on what kind of abuse he wanted the "slave" to experience, which included being beaten, being burned with a cigarette, as well as being urinated and defecated on, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice.

Flores later sent a hyperlink of the resulting 58-minute torture video to Fiore in April 2019. The video depicted "the sadistic abuse and possible death of an adult male," according to prosecutors.

Addittionally, Fiore previously paid Flores $600 in Amazon gift cards to create another video of her abusing a child. The earlier video, which depicted "sadistic abuse of a pre-pubescent boy consistent with Fiore's specifications," was sent to Fiore on Oct. 3, 2018, according to the USAO-VT statement.

"Vasquez Flores inflicted pain on the child for the sexual arousal of the viewer of the video," U.S. attorneys said.

Fiore was arrested in May 2019 as part of a multi-agency operation based on tips received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, as well as leads developed through undercover investigation. He was later discovered to have possessed other images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which included sexual intercourse and sadistic abuse.

Meanwhile, Flores was arrested in Colombia on Sept. 18 last year pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice and is awaiting extradition to the U.S. She was charged in the U.S. with conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography and aiding and abetting the receipt of child pornography.

Fiore faces up to 10 years of imprisonment for possession of child pornography, up to 20 years for murder for hire, up to 30 years for conspiracy to produce child pornography and up to lifetime imprisonment for conspiracy to kidnap or murder a person in a foreign country.

U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss set Fiore’s sentencing for March 1, 2022.