Chesterfield Man Pleads Guilty to Distributing Child Pornography

RICHMOND, VA—Paul C. Marlowe, 20, of Chesterfield County, Va., pled guilty today to two counts of transportation of child pornography. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge Dennis W. Dohnal.

Marlowe was indicted on Nov. 17, 2009, by a federal grand jury. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 27, 2010. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years and will be required to register as a sex offender in any U.S. jurisdiction in which he lives, works, or attends school.

According to court documents and information provided in open court at the plea hearing, Marlowe was identified by law enforcement officers during an undercover investigation of individuals trading images of child pornography online. During their investigation, agents executed a search warrant at Marlowe’s residence where they seized a computer. A subsequent forensic examination revealed two e-mails sent from the defendant’s AOL e-mail account with attachments containing numerous images of child pornography to two separate individuals on Feb. 24, 2009. The defendant later admitted to sending the two e-mails.

This case was investigated by agents of the FBI and the Virginia State Police. Special Assistant United States Attorneys Gene Fishel and Tommy Johnstone of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.