North Versailles Man Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Child Pornography Collection

PITTSBURGH—On January 29, a resident of Allegheny County was sentenced in federal court to 36 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, on his conviction of possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

Senior United States District Judge Gustave Diamond imposed the sentence on Harold J. Grant, III, 20.

According to information presented to the court, on February 2, 2011, Grant possessed thousands of videos and still images in computer graphics files depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, many of whom were infants and very young children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Grant’s collection of child pornography depicted particularly violent sexual acts, which he had carefully categorized.

Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Grant.

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.justice.gov/psc.