Baltimore and Fort Washington Men Plead Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography
Fort Washington Man Also Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

BALTIMORE and GREENBELT, MD—In separate hearings today, Gregory Bukowski, age 22, of Baltimore, and James Connolly, age 64, of Fort Washington, Maryland, pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography. Connolly also pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

The guilty pleas were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

In Baltimore, Bukowski also pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography through an online file-sharing program to an undercover law enforcement officer. On May 18, 2010, Baltimore County Police Department personnel executed a search warrant at Bukowski’s home and seized Bukowski’s computer and other digital media. A subsequent forensic examination revealed that these items contained more than 600 visual depictions of minors, including children under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct, which included sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence. In addition, Bukowski admitted that he had used webcam websites and had paid to watch children being sexually abused live on the Internet; that in these “shows” he was able to type in text on his computer to direct the sexually explicit conduct.

In Greenbelt, Connolly admitted that on September 16, 2009 and December 7, 2009, he distributed 30 and 78 images of child pornography, respectively, to undercover law enforcement officers through an online file-sharing program. As part of the investigation, a search warrant was executed at Connolly’s home on April 7, 2010, and agents seized Connolly’s computers and other digital media. A forensic examination found that the computers and hard drives utilized by Connolly contained approximately 50,000 images and 490 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

As part of their plea agreements, Bukowski and Connolly must register as sex offenders in the place where they reside, where they are employees, and where they are students, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Bukowski and Connolly face a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison for distribution of child pornography; and Connolly faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography, each followed by up to lifetime supervised release. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for Connolly for September 26, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar scheduled sentencing for Bukowski on September 21, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

These cases were 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 both of these investigations and the Baltimore County Police Department for its work in the Bukowski case. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, assigned from the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, who is prosecuting the Connolly case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who is prosecuting the Bukowski case.