Florida Man Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison on Child Pornography Charges

Robert Eugene Revay, 79, of Oakland Park, Florida, was sentenced to serve 15 years in prison for conspiring to produce child pornography and for possession of child pornography.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer for the Southern District of Florida and Inspector in Charge Ronald J. Verrochio of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) made the announcement.   The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola of the Southern District of Florida.   In addition to Revay’s prison term, he was sentenced to a life term of supervised release.

According to court documents and statements made at the plea hearing, in 2011, law enforcement initiated an investigation into an online chat group whose members traveled to engage in sex with prepubescent boys, and produced and distributed child pornography.   Through the investigation, law enforcement obtained computer hard drives that belonged to two of the group’s members, Mark J. Newton and Peter Truong, who were sentenced to serve 40 years in prison and 30 years in prison, respectively, for their crimes.   Forensic examination of the hard drives yielded images and videos of boys being sexually abused.

Revay was a member of that online chat group.   In 1997, Revay and Truong were living together in an apartment in Germantown, Maryland, where they enticed a then-12-year-old child to come to their apartment.   They sexually abused the victim on numerous occasions and took pictures and videos of the abuse.

On March 19, 2013, as part of the investigation, law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Revay’s residence in Oakland Park, Florida.   On Revay’s computer, law enforcement discovered child pornography in an encrypted container.   Revay admitted that he had downloaded and possessed the child pornography.   Revay also admitted that on previous occasions, he downloaded child pornography via the Internet.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.   Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.   For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc .   For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.

The case was investigated by USPIS, and prosecuted by LisaMarie Freitas and Michael Grant of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Olivia Choe of the Southern District of Florida.