Previously Convicted Child Sex Offender Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg sentenced Vincent Eugene Koerner, age 47, of Glen Burnie, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for possession of pornography. Judge Legg ordered that upon his release from prison, Koerner must 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). Koerner remains detained.

The sentence was 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 Anne Arundel County Police Chief James Teare, Sr.

According to Koerner’s plea agreement, in 1999 he was convicted of a sex offense for abusing a child and was required to register as a sex offender. On June 21, 2010, investigators executed a sex offender compliance check of Koerner at home. As part of the check, officers requested and received consent to examine a desktop computer at the residence, which revealed several sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors. Koerner told investigators that he had viewed and saved child pornography in the past, but thought he had erased it.

Investigators subsequently examined computers at the store where Koerner is employed as a store manager. The employer and other employees identified a specific computer that was assigned to Koerner. An examination of that computer revealed that it contained a sexually explicit image of a prepubescent minor.

A preliminary forensic analysis of Koerner’s home computer found revealed 1,338 pornographic files, with at least 600 of those files matching a known child pornography video or image, including images depicting sadistic and masochistic conduct.

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 and Anne Arundel County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin S. Herring, who prosecuted the case.