Baltimore, Maryland - Seng Foon Yeow, also known as Mike S.F. Yeow, age 61, of Laurel, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Yeow is a registered sex offender, afer pleading guilty in 2001 in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida to traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor and possession of child pornography.

According to his plea agreement, in September 2008, the ICE Cyber Crimes Center received a referral from Interpol (IP) in Berne, Switzerland concerning the suspected downloading of child pornography by an individual located in the Baltimore, Maryland area, later determined to be Yeow. On March 4, 2008, a search warrant executed at Yeow’s home on Whiskey Run in Laurel, Maryland, recovered a computer that contained more than 600 images documenting the sexual abuse of children. Yeow admitted to possessing child pornography on his computer and knew that the production of the images involved the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

Yeow faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, followed by supervised release up to life. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake scheduled sentencing for June 18, 2009 at 9:15 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 http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie S. Greenberg, who is prosecuting the case.