Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 31-year-old Falls Church, Virginia resident pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani to producing and attempting to produce child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the defendant, Christopher Julich, was previously indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2012 for persuading a 13-year-old child in Lackawanna County to perform sexual acts that were transmitted live via webcam. This activity occurred during October through December of 2011.

The charge against Julich resulted from an investigation by agents and task force officers of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Scranton, the Eastern District of Virginia, and the Lackawanna County District Attorney’s Office.

The plea agreement, if accepted by the court, recommends that Julich be sentenced to 21 years in prison and serve a lifetime on supervised release following his prison sentence.

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 Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.