Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to More Than 14 Years in Prison for Distribution of Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—Brandon Rock, 32, of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to a prison term of 14 years and four months after earlier pleading guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr. announced.

U.S. Attorney Machen was joined in the announcement by Peter J. Smith, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; George C. Venizelos, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Division; and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Rock pled guilty in February 2012 and was sentenced by the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Upon completion of his prison term, Rock will be placed on 10 years of supervised release.

According to a factual proffer of evidence presented during the plea proceedings, on June 9, 2011, an MPD member of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, who was operating undercover as part of the investigation, communicated with Rock by instant messenger over the Internet. During the course of the communications over the next several days, Rock sent the undercover several still images of a minor girl, which Rock had filmed. Rock also sent the undercover six additional images of child pornography.

Law enforcement obtained an arrest warrant for Rock and a search warrant for his residence in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. On June 17, 2011, Rock was arrested. A forensic analysis of computer equipment inside his residence confirmed that Rock also possessed more than 100 videos of child pornography and hundreds of video segments of child pornography of a minor girl, which the defendant had filmed.

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. Assistance in this investigation was provided by the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

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, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, U.S. Attorney Smith, Assistant Director McJunkin, Special Agent in Charge Venizelos, and Chief Lanier commended the work of all who participated in the investigation. They especially acknowledged the efforts of the MPD detectives and special agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. They also particularly commended the exemplary work of Criminal Investigator John Marsh of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Finally, they commended Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Clancy from the Middle District of Pennsylvania, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Donovan and David B. Kent, from the District of Columbia, who prosecuted this case.