Upper Marlboro Man Sentenced to Prison for Advertising and Possessing Child Pornography
Instructed an Undercover FBI Agent on How to Purchase Online Live Sex Shows

GREENBELT, MD—Chief U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Michael Moskal, age 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, today to five years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for advertising and possessing child pornography. Chief Judge Chasanow ordered that upon his release from prison, Moskal must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; and Assistant Director in Charge James W. McJunkin of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Washington Field Office.

According to the plea agreement, on July 31, 2009, an FBI Child Exploitation Task Force officer operating undercover was conducting an online investigation into individuals engaging in the sexual exploitation of children. While online, the officer received an instant message from an individual later identified as Moskal, stating that he had an interest in Asian children between the ages of 9 and 12. During the course of this chat with the undercover, Moskal provided the undercover with a link to a website and instructions on how to access the site and purchase a live sex show with mothers and their young children. The website operates out of the Philippines. Moskal stated that he paid $20 for a live sex show involving an adult female and a 5-year-old girl. The officer followed Moskal’s instructions and was offered a live sex show through the website between an adult female and an 8-year-old child.

On November 20, 2009, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at Moskal’s residence and seized digital media, including computers, which contained 719 images and 65 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the images involved female toddlers and a pre-pubescent female.

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. Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation Task Force, with assistance from the FBI Baltimore Field Office, the Fairfax County Police Department, and the Metropolitan Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, assigned from the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, who prosecuted the case.