Johnson City Resident Michael James Marcum Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Possession
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 03, 2010 |
GREENEVILLE, TN—Michael James Marcum, 27, of Johnson City, Tenn., entered a guilty plea on September 2, 2010, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville, to possession of child pornography. Sentencing was set for February 7, 2011, at 1:30 p.m in United States District Court in Greeneville. He was ordered detained by United States District Court Judge Ronnie Greer.
Marcum faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, supervised release for the remainder of his life, restitution as ordered by the Court, and forfeiture of the instrumentalities of the offense.
Marcum was charged by an information filed by the United States Attorney following an investigation jointlyconducted bythe Department of Homeland Security-Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The initial investigation began as part of ICE’s Operation Koala, which focused on Italian national Sergio Marzola. Marzola, the producer and distributor of child pornography videos was prosecuted by Italian authorities and as part of his cooperation with Italian authorities and Interpol, provided his voluminous customer list to law enforcement authorities. Marcum was on Marzola’s customer list.
Assistant United States Attorney Helen Smith represents the United States in this prosecution.
This case was brought as part of Public Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal, 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 visit ProjectSafeChildhood.gov.