Collinsville Man Pleads Guilty to Production of Child Pornography

A Collinsville man pled guilty on July 22, 2013, to production of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Stephen R. Wigginton announced today. Martin L. Evanick, a/k/a “Vlad,” 31, Collinsville, Illinois, faces a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years but not more than 30 years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of five years to life. Sentencing is scheduled for November 4, 2013, in East St. Louis, Illinois. Evanick has been in the custody of the United States Marshals Service since his arraignment on October 19, 2012.

The investigation began on April 21, 2012, when the victim’s mother contacted the Collinsville Police Department regarding a possible sexual assault on her 16-year-old minor daughter by a 30 year old man, later identified as Defendant Martin L. Evanick. During interviews with authorities, the victim revealed that she had a sexual relationship with Evanick and that Evanick had also taken nude pictures of her using his cellular telephone. During the investigation, Evanick’s cellular telephone was found to contain four photographs of the victim, taken when she was 17 years old, that constituted child pornography. In an interview with agents, Evanick admitted taking the sexually explicit photos of the victim.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office 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 tab “Resources.”

The case was investigated by the Collinsville, Illinois Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Metro East Cyber Crimes and Analysis Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.