German national stationed in Northern Virginia sentenced for receiving child sexual abuse material from the BitTorrent file-sharing network

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A German national, who worked in an IT position for the German military’s U.S. outpost in Northern Virginia, was sentenced today to six years and six months in prison for downloading child sexual abuse material (CSAM).   

Peter Markus Kuttke, 49, a German national residing in Reston, pleaded guilty on Jan. 8 to receiving CSAM. According to court documents, law enforcement learned that CSAM files were available for download on Bit-Torrent, a file-sharing network, from a user with an IP address associated with Kuttke’s residence. On Dec. 1, 2023, federal agents executed a search warrant at Kuttke’s home and recovered electronic devices that contained evidence of Kuttke’s offenses, including a device with numerous CSAM videos and images. Forensic analysis further confirmed that Kuttke had downloaded CSAM from BitTorrent, including videos depicting adults sexually assaulting prepubescent children.

Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Christopher Heck, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement.

HSI investigated the case.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Prinz, a Trial Attorney for the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:24-cr-245.