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Press Release

Delaware Man Sentenced to 156 Months in Prison for Distribution of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Delaware

WASHINGTON – A Wilmington, Delaware, man was sentenced to 156 months in prison today for distributing child pornography, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney David C. Weiss of the District of Delaware.

Roy Harvender Jr., 59, pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2016, before U.S. District Court Judge Leonard P. Stark of the District of Delaware to one count of distribution of child pornography for his membership in a website dedicated to the sexual exploitation of children. Judge Stark also ordered Harvender to serve 10 years of supervised release and to pay $5,000 in restitution to each of this victims.

According to admissions made in connection with the plea agreement, the FBI identified Harvender during the investigation of an online bulletin board whose primary purpose was the advertisement and distribution of child pornography. This website had a total of over 105,000 users and required its members to continually share child pornography in order to gain and keep membership.

Harvender admitted that he was an active member of this website for a period of several months in 2014 and made approximately 190 postings to the board, including images and videos of child pornography and links to images and videos of child pornography. After identifying , agents executed a search warrant at his residence and found images of child pornography on electronic devices they seized. was interviewed by FBI agents and admitted that he uploaded child pornography images to other users of the website and that he owned the devices that contained child pornography.

Trial Attorney Kathryn C. Furtado of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Edmond Falgowski of the District of Delaware prosecuted this case. The FBI’s Baltimore Division investigated the case.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.

 

Updated May 4, 2017

Topic
Project Safe Childhood