Baltimore Attorney Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography
Used a File-Sharing Program to Distribute Child Pornography Over the Internet

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced David Bart Goldstein, age 55, of Baltimore, Maryland, late yesterday to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for distributing child pornography. Judge Hollander also ordered that upon his release from prison, Goldstein 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; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein.

According to Goldstein’s plea agreement, on June 25, 2010, an undercover FBI agent in Newark, New Jersey saw that Goldstein was logged into a publicly available file-sharing program and was sharing approximately 1,476 files. The undercover agent downloaded 22 images and six videos from Goldstein’s shared files. All of the downloaded images contained visual depictions of actual minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Further investigation revealed that in May 2010, Goldstein had paid $29.95 for access to the file sharing program.

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, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul E. Budlow and Bonnie S. Greenberg, who prosecuted the case.