Monroe County Man Admits to Receiving Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Monroe County resident pleaded guilty today before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik to receiving child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Jonathan Brownlee, age 34, of Long Pond, Pennsylvania, admitted to using a computer to download images of child pornography between April and December 2009.

Brownlee was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 8, 2010. Brownlee’s arrest resulted from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the State Attorney General’s Office, Pocono Mountain Regional Police, Delaware County Detectives, and Scranton Police.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, if accepted by the court, Brownlee will be sentenced to between 60 months and 96 months in prison, to be followed by 20 years of supervised release.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.