District Man Sentenced To Three Years In PrisonFor Possession Of Child Pornography

     WASHINGTON – Dustin Metz, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to three years in prison on a federal charge of possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Scot Rittenberg, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Washington, D.C., and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

     Metz pled guilty in July 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Senior Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Upon completion of his prison term, Metz will be placed on 10 years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years.

     According to the government’s evidence, between September 2012 and April 2013, Metz possessed child pornography on his personal computer at his residence in Washington, D.C. On various dates during that time-frame, Metz used a peer-to-peer file sharing program to download to his computer numerous images and videos depicting child pornography and at the same time make those images and videos available for other users of the program to download themselves. Metz viewed the images and videos and then deleted them.

     On April 17, 2013, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Metz’s home and seized various items, including two laptop computers. Law enforcement subsequently discovered evidence showing that Metz had possessed child pornography on both of the computers, including at least one video depicting child pornography and remnants of additional video and image files indicative of child pornography. Metz was arrested on May 9, 2013.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Acting Special Agent in Charge Rittenberg, and Chief Lanier praised the work of the HSI special agents and MPD detectives who investigated the case. They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Cassidy Kesler Pinegar, who prosecuted the case.