MARYLAND MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES

The U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division issued the following news release:

Scott Carpenter, 44, of Dundalk, Md., has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein of the District of Maryland announced today. Trial began yesterday morning in Baltimore in the child pornography case of Carpenter, who was indicted in September 2007 on charges of receipt of child pornography, transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

The charges were developed through an FBI investigation concerning individuals who used file sharing or peer-to-peer programs to trade child pornography images and video files over the Internet. Peer-to-peer networks allow users connected to the Internet to link their computers with other computers around the world and thereby share information and files.

Today, Carpenter elected to plead guilty to one count of receiving child pornography over the Internet. According to plea documents, Carpenter acknowledged using "LimeWire," a peerto- peer software program, to receive an illegal image on February 23, 2006. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 27, 2008. At sentencing, Carpenter faces a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison, in addition to a fine of up to $250,000 and a term of supervised release.

The case arose out of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham of the District of Maryland. The case is being investigated by the FBI's Innocent Images Unit in Calverton, Md.