FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
June 30, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SEVERN MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO PRODUCTION AND
ATTEMPTED TRANSPORT OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
BALTIMORE, Maryland - Danny Fleck, age 59, of Severn, Maryland, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of sexually exploiting a minor to produce pictures of the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and one count of attempting to transport child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
"The outstanding law enforcement cooperation that brought Danny Fleck to justice is precisely the goal of the Justice Department's Project Safe Childhood program. We will continue to work together with our law enforcement partners to identify sexual predators who use the internet to communicate with child victims," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to the statement of facts presented to the court at yesterday’s guilty plea, Fleck enticed and coerced multiple minor females to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce pictures and a video. From 1998 to 2002, Fleck met nine girls under the age of 18 through the Internet, including Internet chat rooms. In his communications with these girls over the Internet, Fleck misrepresented his age, indicating he was 18, 19, or 20 years old, and his identity, by using the alias “Zane.” After communicating with the girls through Internet chat rooms, the U.S. mails, email, and phone calls, Fleck caused at least two of the girls to produce pictures and a video of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
On October 27, 2003, Fleck attempted to carry photographs and a video depicting four girls engaging in sexually explicit conduct onto a flight departing the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Transportation Security Administration security officers searched Fleck’s carry-on bag because it contained a number of items that could not be taken inside the security perimeter of the airport, including pocket knives and torch lighters. When they opened the bag, they also discovered the child pornography and alerted Maryland Transportation Authority Police officers.
Fleck faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for each of the two offenses to which he pled guilty. Fleck faces a minimum penalty of ten years in prison for sexually exploiting the minors to produce child pornography. U.S. District Judge Andre M.
Davis has set sentencing for November 3, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. Fleck is incarcerated until the date of sentencing.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the investigative work performed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Gruber and Andrew G. W. Norman, who are prosecuting the case.
This page last modified—June 30, 2006