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Press Release
Previously Convicted for Possession of Child Pornography in Anne Arundel County
Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles, Jr. sentenced Donald P. Blair, age 56, of Dundalk, Maryland, today to 10 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography. Judge Quarles ordered that upon his release from prison, Blair 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 William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.
According to Blair’s plea agreement, in 2013, HSI New Orleans was investigating an email account that was sending and receiving child pornography. The investigation revealed that Donald Blair was sharing child pornography with the individual whose email account was being investigated. On July 8, 2013, a search warrant was executed at Blair’s home and law enforcement seized two hard drives and several flash drives, all of which contained images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, Blair knowingly possessed 288 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on a desktop computer. In 2006, Blair was convicted for possession of child pornography in Anne Arundel County.
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, Maryland State Police and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.