Concord Man Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Pornography

OAKLAND—Scott Alan Seidlitz pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland today to possessing child pornography, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.

In pleading guilty, Seidlitz admitted that starting in 2010, he copied child pornography images from another person’s e-mail account over the Internet using his laptop computer and stored them on his external hard drive. Seidlitz admitted to possessing more than 4,000 images of child pornography, including images depicting bondage and bestiality.

Seidlitz, 29, of Concord, was arrested on August 30, 2013, by local law enforcement on separate charges. Seidlitz was charged by federal complaint on September 1, 2013. He made his initial appearance in federal custody on September 4, 2013, and has since remained in federal custody. Seidlitz was indicted on September 12, 2013.

Seidlitz’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 29, 2014, before the Honorable Jeffrey S. White, United States District Court Judge in Oakland. The maximum statutory penalty for possession of child pornography, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B) and (b)(2), is a maximum term of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, a minimum of five years of supervised release, and a maximum of a life term of supervised release. However, any sentence will be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Brian C. Lewis is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Janice Pagsanjan. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Concord Police Department.