St. Mary’s County Man Indicted for Sexually Exploiting Two Minor Girls to Produce Child Pornography

GREENBELT, MD—A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging Cary Anderson, age 32, of Dameron, Maryland, with six counts of sexually exploiting minors to produce child pornography.

The indictment 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; St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron; and St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Richard Fritz.

The indictment alleges that from February 17 to February 24, 2012, Anderson sexually exploited a 13-year-old girl and produced images documenting the abuse. Further, the indictment alleges that on February 24, 2012, Anderson also sexually exploited a 15-year-old girl in order to produce visual depictions documenting the abuse.

Anderson faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison, followed by up to lifetime of supervised release, for each of the six counts of sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography. If convicted, Anderson will also be required 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).

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

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 Attorneys’ 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, St. Mary’s County Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and the St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, assigned from the U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, who is prosecuting the case.