FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
August 3, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HYATTSVILLE MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO DISTRIBUTING AND POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Possessed Over 42,000 Images and 670 Videos of Child Pornography, Including Images Depicting Bondage and the Sadomasochistic Sexual Abuse of Children
Greenbelt, Maryland - David B. Twitty, age 64, of Hyattsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possessing and distributing child pornography.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; and Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.
According to his plea agreement, on four occasions between August 16 and December 15, 2009, Twitty used the screennames “perv62” of “perv63" to distribute a total of 91 images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct to an online website where users would upload and download child pornography.
On October 13, 2010, after identifying the screennames as Twitty, agents executed a search warrant at his residence. Twitty confessed that he had been trafficking in child pornography for six to seven years, that his interest was in images depicting pre-pubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and that his collection included images depicting bondage and the sadomasochistic sexual abuse of children.
During the search, agents seized Twitty’s computers and other digital media items which contained over 42,000 images and approximately 670 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
As part of his plea agreement, Twitty must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
Twitty faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography; and a maximum of 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography, followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for November 7, 2011 at 9:00 a.m.
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 www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended ICE-HSI for its work in the investigation and thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney LisaMarie Freitas, who prosecuted the case.