Dundalk Man Sentenced for Distributing Child Pornography
Defendant Possessed Over 1,000 Images of Child Pornography
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 04, 2011 |
BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg sentenced Charles Pijanowski, age 30, of Dundalk, Maryland, today to 66 months in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for distribution of child pornography. Judge Legg also ordered Pijanowski to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
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 Pijanowski’s plea agreement, Pijanowski was a registered member of a publicly available peer-to-peer file-sharing program, and had thousands of images and videos available for other members of the program to download via the Internet. On December 11, 2009, a detective of the Toronto Police Service logged onto the program and downloaded 15 images from Pijanowski’s computer. All 15 images contained visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
On March 23, 2010, an FBI agent logged onto the program and observed that Pijanowski was sharing more than 17,000 files. The agent downloaded 350 images and 52 videos from Pijanowski’s shared files. At least 250 images and 32 videos contained visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
On June 28, 2010, FBI agents executed searched a federal search warrant at Pijanowski’s residence. Pijanowski admitted to law enforcement that he had downloaded child pornography and had made it available for others to download from his computer via the Internet and the peer-to-peer program on his computer. A preliminary review of one of the computers found in Pijanowski’s bedroom and a DVD found in his car revealed over 1,000 images as well as videos of child pornography, including images of prepubescent children, toddlers, and sadistic images such as bondage.
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 www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Budlow, who prosecuted the case. Mr. Rosenstein also thanked the Toronto Police Service for their assistance in the investigation.