Dale City Man Sentenced to 220 Months for Producing Child Pornography

ALEXANDRIA, VA—MacArthur Taylor, 40, of Dale City, Virginia, was sentenced to 220 months in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for creating child pornography by himself engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and Stephan M. Hudson, Prince William County Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Anthony J. Trenga.

Taylor pleaded guilty on June 11, 2012, to producing child pornography. He was identified by law enforcement after he provided his Dell Streak Tablet to an acquaintance to repair. While attempting to repair the tablet, the acquaintance saw still images of a female minor in various states of undress. A video produced by Taylor was also later discovered on the tablet showing the victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct. When law enforcement interviewed the young girl, she admitted to engaging in sexually explicit conduct with Taylor for the past two years.

The investigation was conducted by the Prince William County Police Department and FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Assistant United States Attorney Jay V. Prabhu and Department of Justice Trial Attorney Maureen C. Cain are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.