Former Aide at a Prince George’s County Elementary School Indicted for Production of Child Pornography

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal grand jury today returned an indictment charging Deonte Carraway, age 22, of Glenarden, Maryland, with thirteen counts of sexual exploitation of a minor to produce child pornography, involving 11 minor victims ranging in age from nine to 12 years old.  According to court documents, Carraway was an assistant for Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School in Prince George’s County.  This indictment replaces the criminal complaint filed last week, which included eight counts involving six victims.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Chief Hank Stawinski of the Prince George’s County Police Department; and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela D. Alsobrooks.

“Federal authorities will continue to work with Prince George’s County police and prosecutors to identify additional victims, provide appropriate counseling, and hold the perpetrator accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to the 13-count indictment, from October 11, 2015 through February 1, 2016, Carraway coerced and persuaded multiple children to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce videos of that conduct.  According to the indictment, the images produced include Carraway engaging in sexual activity with victims, as well as the victims engaging in sexually explicit conduct at Carraway’s direction. 

According to court documents, Carraway met several of the victims at the school where he worked and other victims reported that Carraway recruited them from his choir group. Prince George’s County Police arrested Carraway on February 4, 2016, and he remains detained on related state charges.

Carraway faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison followed by up to lifetime of supervised release for each of the 13 counts of production of child pornography.  Carraway has an initial appearance scheduled in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt on Friday, March 4, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jillyn K Schulze.  Carraway remains detained on the related state charges.

The investigation is ongoing and investigators are asking anyone with information about possible victims or details about Mr. Carraway to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings. 

The case is being investigated by the FBI Maryland Child Exploitation Task Force (MCETF), created in 2010 to combat sex crimes involving children, made up of members from ten state and federal law enforcement agencies.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices 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.justice.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.              

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Prince George’s County Police Department, and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel C. Gardner and Kristi N. O’Malley, who are prosecuting the case.