Cecil County Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III sentenced James J. Stanley, age 29, of Rising Sun, Maryland, today to 18 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for distributing child pornography.  Stanley also admitted to the attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. Judge Russell ordered that upon his release from prison, Stanley must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; Chief F.D. “Chip” Peterson, Jr. of the Rising Sun Police Department; and Cecil County State’s Attorney Ellis Rollins.

According to his plea agreement, Stanley used a website that hosts anonymous and random one-to-one video and text chat. The website allows users to chat with others without providing any identifying information, and markets itself as an opportunity for users to “Talk to strangers!”  During a video chat session on the website on October 20, 2014, Stanley used his webcam to display an image documenting the sexual abuse of a prepubescent girl, which was stored on his computer or other digital storage media.

Stanley also admitted that he placed a recording device in a shower that he knew would be used by a minor female, with the intent to create video recordings of her engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Between November 14, 2014 and January 14, 2015, Stanley saved a video file to his computer that depicted the girl taking a shower. The girl’s genital area is not visible in the video.  Stanley stated that he used his cell phone to record the girl showering on approximately 10 occasions, although other videos of her were not recovered.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.              

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the HSI Baltimore, the Maryland State Police, Rising Sun Police Department and the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers, who prosecuted the case.