The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a Schuylkill County man charged with the production of child pornography stemming from offenses at various times between 2000 and 2011 pleaded guilty Friday before United States District Court Magistrate Judge Malachy E. Mannion.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Timothy Russell Steward, Jr., age 39, of Barnesville, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Scranton in January 2012 following an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations(HSI), with the assistance of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

     The investigation revealed that Steward produced numerous pornographic pictures of a young boy and saved them on various forms of media. A forensic examination of Steward’s computer and other media revealed additional images of alleged child pornography received and possessed by Steward.

     According to the terms of the plea agreement, Steward will be sentenced to a term of 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervision under the registration requirements of the Adam Walsh Act. A sentencing date was not scheduled.

     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.

     The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski.

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