The heiress to a prominent Virginia family was arrested on Thursday on charges related to child pornography and attempted child sex abuse, prompting her federal judge ex-husband to petition for full custody of their two daughters.
Virginian socialite Eleanor Hunton Hoppe was caught in a sting operation by an FBI agent operating on a fetish website in February 2023. According to the New York Post, the encounter began with Hoppe initiating a discussion on “taboo parenting” with an interlocutor, unaware that she was speaking to a federal agent. Hoppe then allegedly sent a topless video of herself and a video of a child being sexually abused by an adult man.
The encounter escalated when Hoppe agreed to meet her interlocutor and his daughter, unaware that there was no daughter involved and that she was walking into the agent’s trap. The Daily Progress reported the unholy messages which Hoppe was alleged to have sent.
“A great thing to do is to wake her up by trying new things,” Hoppe purportedly said, referring to the fictitious child. “That hazy/ dreamlike state is perfect to introduce a variety of new things… especially with someone to help with positioning her body and then you let her fall right back to sleep.”
Hoppe arrived at a hotel on March 16 on the pretense of meeting the child, only to find agents who immediately arrested her on three federal crimes: attempted transportation of a minor with an attempt to engage in sexual activity, distribution of child pornography and enticement of a minor. Hoppe pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Hoppe is the daughter of Eppa Hunton V, the scion of a Virginia law family descended from the C.S.A. brigadier general Eppa Hunton II. Since the days of Reconstruction the Hunton family have been a fixture in elite Virginian circles, leading the state’s second-largest law firm, Hunton Andrews Kurth.
It seemed as though Eleanor would carry on her family heritage of legal and social distinction when she married Joel Hoppe, a magistrate judge in the Western District of Virginia. The couple divorced in 2020, and Joel Hoppe is currently fighting for full custody of their two daughters, ages 10 and 12, in light of the shocking allegations against his ex-wife.
If the charges hold, there will be no doubt that this daughter of the Confederacy will have brought shame upon her distinguished family name. Whether the vile crimes of which she stands accused will be sufficient to alienate her from the elite Virginia country club circles is another matter yet to be determined.
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