Baltimore Man Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Calvin Henry Sampson III, age 23, of Baltimore, Maryland, yesterday to 13 years in federal prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography.  Sampson admitted that he also produced images and videos documenting his sexual abuse of two minor female victims.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron;  Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Commissioner Michael Harrison of the Baltimore Police Department; and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

According to his plea agreement, on March 3, 2020, an individual saw images depicting the sexual abuse of the two minor victims on Sampson’s phone.  During the subsequent investigation, the victims were interviewed and confirmed that Sampson had taken sexually explicit photos of them engaged in sexual conduct.  They also stated that Sampson told them that they would be in trouble if they told anyone.  A search warrant was obtained for email accounts associated with Sampson and for his cellular phone.  A review of one of the accounts revealed at least four videos and 21 images produced by Sampson that documented his sexual abuse of the victims.  Sampson’s cell phone was forensically examined on March 26, 2020.  After the phone was charged and turned on, it appeared that the cell phone had been factory reset and did not contain any specific user data.  Sampson was arrested on April 11, 2020 by a Baltimore City Police officer in connection with a separate child abuse case and has been held without bond since that time.

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 Attorney’s 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 Erek L. Barron commended the FBI, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Baltimore City State’ Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Riley, who prosecuted the federal case.

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