District Man Sentenced To 3 ½-Year Prison Term

For Possession of Child Pornography

     WASHINGTON – Keith Dietterle, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to a 42-month prison term for possession of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

     Dietterle, a former intelligence analyst at the FBI, pled guilty to the charge in April 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  He was sentenced by the Honorable Amy Berman Jackson. Upon completion of his prison term, Dietterle will be placed on 10 years of supervised release.

     According to the government's evidence, on Nov. 7, 2012, Dietterle contacted a man he believed to be the father of an under-aged girl on a social network site.  That man turned out to be an undercover officer with the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force. Over the next several days, Dietterle engaged in online e-mail and instant message conversations with the undercover officer.

     During this period of time, Dietterle sent the undercover officer three images of child pornography which depicted, among other things, adult men engaged in sexual acts with children.  In addition, Dietterle sent the undercover officer various links to videos depicting graphic child pornography.  Dietterle was arrested on Nov. 29, 2012.

     This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative and investigated by the FBI's Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of the FBI's Washington Field Office and MPD.  In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.  Led by the U.S. Attorney's 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.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director Parlave and Chief Lanier praised the MPD Detectives and Special Agents of the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.  They also commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julieanne Himelstein and Ari Redbord, who prosecuted the case.