Laurel Man Pleads Guilty in Maryland to Federal Charge of Receipt of Child Pornography

 Also Possessed and Distributed Child Pornography

Greenbelt, Maryland – Barry Thomas Goldsborough, age 52, of Laurel, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to a federal charge for receipt of child pornography and to violating his federal supervised release for two previous federal sex offense convictions for attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and for possession of child pornography.  Goldsborough has been detained since his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Maryland on September 23, 2020.

The guilty plea was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

According his plea agreement, on April 8, 2019, Yahoo sent a CyberTipline Report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that an email account associated with Goldsborough had uploaded 181 files of suspected child pornography to his Yahoo account.  Law enforcement subsequently reviewed the 181 files and determined that approximately 70 of the 181 files were considered child pornography. 

On November 19, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Goldsborough’s residence in Laurel and seized several electronic devices.  A review of one of the devices revealed one image of child pornography.  Law enforcement subsequently obtained a search warrant for Goldsborough’s email address, which revealed that Goldsborough sent and received multiple images of child pornography.  For example, on January 27, 2018, Goldsborough received an image of child pornography from another email address.  Goldsborough responded to the sender, indicating that he liked young girls between eight and 14 years old.  Goldsborough also claimed to have had sex with an 11-year-old girl. 

Law enforcement also obtained a search warrant for an Internet storage account associated with Goldsborough’s email address.  A review of the records found approximately 26 videos documenting the sexual abuse of children. 

Goldsborough has two prior federal sex offense convictions involving minor children. Specifically, a prior conviction for attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee and a prior conviction for possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.  Goldsborough was serving a 72-month term of federal supervised release from those two prior federal convictions at the time he committed the instant offense.    .  As part of his plea agreement, Goldsborough acknowledged that he will be required to continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, is an employee, and is a student, pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), and the laws of his state of residence.  Goldsborough will also be required to pay an additional special assessment of $5,000.

Goldsborough and the government have agreed that, if the Court accepts the plea, Goldsborough will be sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography and a consecutive sentence of between 15 and 21 months in federal prison for multiple violations of his federal supervised release.  U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel has scheduled sentencing for October 20, 2021, at 10:00 a.m.    

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 the United States Attorney’s 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.       

For information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office’s priorities regarding Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood.   For more USAO-MD information about internet safety for children, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.   

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI, Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah B. Grossi, who is prosecuting the federal case.