District Man Sentenced to 51-Month Prison Term for Travel with the Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct and Possession of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Jeremy Baird, 36, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to a prison term of 51 months after earlier pleading guilty to charges of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Baird pled guilty to the charges in June 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced September 23, 2011 by the Honorable John D. Bates. Upon completion of his prison term, Baird will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. His supervision will include numerous limitations and requirements, including registration as a sex offender and limitations on access to and contact with minors, computers, and the Internet.

According to the statement of offense filed with the court by the government, on July 2, 2010, an undercover officer with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force entered a social network site and monitored a conversation in which Baird expressed interest in having sexual contact with an underaged child. In a subsequent conversation, Baird discussed plans for meeting the child. Finally, on July 8, 2010, Baird traveled from Virginia to a pre-arranged meeting place in Washington, D.C. When he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested.

Following his arrest, members of law enforcement identified more than three images and more than 25 videos of child pornography on a computer that Baird possessed at his residence.

This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD.

Project Safe Childhood is 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 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, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director McJunkin and Chief Lanier praised the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also commended Criminal Investigator John Marsh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for his forensic analysis, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla-Dee Clark, who investigated and prosecuted the case.