May 27, 2014

Federal Grand Jury Returns Superseding Indictment Charging Lake County Man with Advertising, Transporting, and Possessing Child Pornography

OCALA, FL—United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announced today that Aaron Michael Murray (21, Clermont) has been charged by a federal grand jury in a superseding indictment with five counts of advertising for child pornography over the Internet, four counts of transporting child pornography over the Internet, and two counts of possessing child pornography. On each of the advertising counts, Murray faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty five years, up to 20 years’ imprisonment on each transportation count, and up to 10 years in prison on each possession count. Each count in the superseding indictment also carries a potential life term of supervision.

Murray was arrested on June 28, 2013, in Lake County, pursuant to a criminal complaint. He was originally indicted in this case on July 25, 2013. His trial is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2014, before Chief United States District Judge Anne C. Conway at the United States Courthouse in Orlando.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Dallas (Texas) Police Department, and the Carrollton (Texas) Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”