FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
March
19, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO 17 ½ YEARS IN PRISON FOR RECEIPT AND POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Federal Sentence is Consecutive to Black’s 32 Year State Sentence
Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Ocie Black, age 50, of Columbia, Maryland, today to 210 months in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for receipt and possession of child pornography, to be served consecutive to the 32 year state sentence Black is currently serving.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Chief William J. McMahon of the Howard County Police Department; and Howard County State’s Attorney Dario Broccolino.
According to the indictment to which Black pleaded guilty and to other court documents, on August 30, 2007, Howard County Police officers executed a search warrant at Black’s residence in Columbia and seized his computer. A forensic analysis of the computer uncovered 15 videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a video containing multiple scenes documenting the sexual abuse of a girl who is naked, tied up and engaged in sexual activity. Black admitted that he downloaded the files to his computer.
Black was convicted of five counts of sexual abuse of a minor in July 2008, in Howard County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison and is currently serving that sentence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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 United States 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 via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.