HUNTINGDON MAN SENTENCED TO 109 MONTHS ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES

Martin C. Carlson, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced today that Lowell McMickens, age 57, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner to 109 months’ imprisonment and a 10-year term of supervised release based upon his guilty plea to receiving child pornography.

Earlier this year, McMickens’ house was searched and in excess of 100,000 images of child pornography and 4400 films showing the sexual exploitation of children were seized. The images and films depicted the violent sexual abuse of prepubescent children, including images of sadism and bondage.

U.S. Attorney Carlson stated, “The increasingly brutal depictions of child pornography on the Internet will be met with increased law enforcement scrutiny and advocacy for significant sentences before the U.S. Courts. Federal, state and local law enforcement are working closely together to protect young victims from sexual predators and those who feed on the brutal images they produce.”

The case was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod coordinated the grand jury investigation and prosecuted the case 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.

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