WASHINGTON—Brandon Rock, 32, of
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to a prison term of 14 years and
four months after earlier pleading guilty to one count of distribution of child
pornography, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. announced.
U.S. Attorney Machen was joined in the
announcement by Peter J. Smith, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s
Washington Field Office; George C. Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the
FBI’s Philadelphia Field Division; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Rock pled guilty in February 2012 and
was sentenced by the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Columbia. Upon completion of his prison term, Rock will be
placed on 10 years of supervised release.
According to a factual proffer of
evidence presented during the plea proceedings, on June 9, 2011, an MPD member
of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, who was operating undercover as
part of the investigation, communicated with Rock by instant messenger over the
Internet. During the course of the communications over the next several days,
Rock sent the undercover several still images of a minor girl, which Rock had
filmed. Rock also sent the undercover six additional images of child
pornography.
Law enforcement obtained an arrest
warrant for Rock and a search warrant for his residence in Waynesboro,
Pennsylvania. On June 17, 2011, Rock was arrested. A forensic analysis of
computer equipment inside his residence confirmed that Rock also possessed more
than 100 videos of child pornography and hundreds of video segments of child
pornography of a minor girl, which the defendant had filmed.
This case was brought as part of the
Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by
the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s
Washington Field Office and MPD. Assistance in this investigation was provided
by the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide
initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and
abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’
Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section,
Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better
locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as
identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood,
please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
In announcing the sentence, U.S.
Attorney Machen, U.S. Attorney Smith, Assistant Director McJunkin, Special
Agent in Charge Venizelos, and Chief Lanier commended the work of all who
participated in the investigation. They especially acknowledged the efforts of
the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.
They also particularly commended the exemplary work of Criminal Investigator
John Marsh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Finally, they commended Assistant U.S.
Attorney James T. Clancy from the Middle District of Pennsylvania, as well as
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Donovan and David B. Kent, from the District of
Columbia, who prosecuted this case.
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