Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Traveling to the Philippines to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct and Producing Child Pornography

A Reisterstown, Maryland man pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland, for traveling from the United States to the Philippines and engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and to producing child pornography with the intent to transport the child pornography to the United States, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur of the District of Maryland; Acting Special Agent in Charge Cardell T. Morant of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the FBI, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Terrence B. Sheridan of the Baltimore County Police Department.

Martin Hall, 56, pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in foreign commerce from the United States to the Philippines between April 2016 and August 2016 to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a person under the age of 18 and one count of producing child pornography with the intent to transport the child pornography to the United States between July 2016 and August 2016.  Hall pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Ellen L. Hollander of the District of Maryland who will sentence him on Oct. 12 at 2:00pm EDT.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea, Hall traveled to the Philippines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual activity with minor females.  Hall’s conduct included engaging in sexual acts with minors, producing images of the minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and transporting the images back to Maryland.  Additionally, Hall used sophisticated computer programs to download and store thousands of images and videos of child pornography.

The investigation was conducted by HSI Baltimore, the FBI and the Baltimore County Police Department.  This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kaylynn Shoop of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Budlow of the District of Maryland.

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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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 http://www.justice.gov/psc.