Sharpsburg Man Sentenced to Five Years for Receiving Child Pornography

BALTIMORE, MD—U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Mathew Droneburg, age 24, of Sharpsburg, Maryland, late yesterday to five years in prison followed by 25 years of supervised release for receiving child pornography. Judge Bennett also ordered Droneburg to pay a $5,000 fine.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to Droneburg’s plea agreement, Droneburg attempted three times to purchase subscriptions to child pornography websites between August 28 and September 1, 2007. On September 5, 2008, FBI special agents conducted a federal search warrant on Droneburg’s residence. Droneburg admitted that he purchased multiple memberships to child pornography websites. During the search, a binder containing printouts of child pornography was discovered and Droneburg admitted to accessing and printing all the images from the Internet. Droneburg also had three CDs at his residence containing six videos of child pornography. Droneburg had a total of between 300 and 600 images of child pornography, including images portraying sadistic or masochist conduct or other depictions of violence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie S. Greenberg, who prosecuted the case.