Baltimore Man Sentenced for Distributing Child Pornography on the Internet

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Levi Peterson, age 22, of Baltimore today to six years in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release for distributing child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to his guilty plea, in June and November 2005, an undercover FBI agent in New York noticed that an individual using the nickname jboy was advertising F-Serve access to his computer. The F-Serve contained subdirectories and files that suggested that the F-Serve contained pornographic images of boys under 16 years old. On both occasions, the agent accessed the individual’s F-Serve, which was located in Maryland, and downloaded images documenting the sexual abuse of minor children. The agent determined that as of November 2005, the F-Serve used by the individual had distributed over 15,000 files.

Peterson’s residence was searched on February 23, 2006. Over 2,000 images of child pornography were found on his computer, including images documenting the sexual abuse of children under 12 years old, and depictions of minors engaged in sadistic and masochistic conduct. A compact disk was also seized containing 4,500 images of child pornography. During the search of his residence, Peterson told agents that his previous collection of child pornography was seized during a search of his home in 2003. As a result of the 2003 search, Peterson had pleaded guilty in juvenile court in Maryland to possession of child pornography and was on juvenile probation in 2005 and 2006.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 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 praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their investigative work. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tonya Kelly Kowitz, who prosecuted the case.