Halethorpe Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Possession, Receipt, and Transportation of Child Pornography

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Alan Clifton, age 27, of Halethorpe, Maryland, today to seven years in prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release, for possession, receipt, and transportation of child pornography. Judge Bennett ordered that upon his release from prison Clifton 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).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to evidence presented at his four day trial, Clifton used a file sharing program to share images of child pornography. On October 11, 2011, an undercover detective downloaded three videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct from Clifton’s files. A search warrant was subsequently executed at Clifton’s residence by the Baltimore County Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit and officers seized Clifton’s laptop computer, which was found in his bedroom; another computer; an external hard disk drive; and other digital media. An on-scene forensic scan of Clifton’s laptop computer revealed images of child pornography. A subsequent forensic examination of the external hard drive recovered 3,700 files of child pornography, including the three videos that had been downloaded by the undercover detective.

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, HSI Baltimore, and Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Judson T. Mihok and Peter J. Martinez, who prosecuted the case.