AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885

JANUARY 12, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md

EDGEWATER MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF A MINOR

BALTIMORE, Maryland - United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announces that today U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Loren Williams, age 45, of Edgewater, Maryland to 15 years in prison followed by supervised release for the rest of his life in connection with his guilty plea on September 6, 2005 to sexually exploiting a minor in order to produce images of that minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The Court also required Williams to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.

In a statement of facts provided to the court as part of the plea agreement, Williams admitted that on March 22, 2004, the Ocean City Police Department received a complaint from a male, born in 1989, that he had been sexually molested by Williams. The minor stated that his mother had allowed him to stay in the custody of Williams for days at a time and to take trips with Williams to places such as Ocean City, Maryland. The minor advised that when Williams sexually molested him in Ocean City in August of 2003, Williams videotaped the incident.

According to the statement of facts, Ocean City Police Department and other law enforcement executed a search warrant at Williams’ residence and seized several computers, numerous videotapes and photographic equipment. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement searched the computers and videotapes. Williams is seen on a videotape performing sexual acts upon the minor, and reaching for a digital camera and adjusting its position.

United States Attorney Rosenstein commended the investigative work of the Ocean City Police Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and praised Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew G.W. Norman for prosecuting the case.