Luzerne County Child Pornography Trafficker Sentenced to 17½ Years in Prison

Martin C. Carlson, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a 23-year old Hanover Township man was sentenced last week by U.S. District Court Judge James M. Munley to serve 210 months in federal prison for receiving and distributing child pornography.

Carlson stated that Stephen Humanik pleaded guilty to the offense on December 12, 2008.

Humanik’s prosecution stemmed from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Pennsylvania State Police.

Carlson noted that in imposing the sentence, Judge Munley noted the extremely sadistic nature of the child pornography collected by the defendant, the large volume of images involved in the offense (more than 39,000 images), the fact that Humanik shared and distributed child pornography to others, and the additional harm done to the young victims by further dissemination of the videos and images depicting their sexual abuse.

Judge Munley also ordered Humanik to be placed on supervised release for 15 years after serving his prison sentence. Humanik was also ordered to pay a $2500 fine and a $100 special assessment.

Carlson noted that 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.

Carlson noted that the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.