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Press Release

Former Child Protective Officer Convicted After Four-Day Federal Trial for Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland

Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal jury has convicted Haitian national Jean Buteau Remarque, age 40, of Greenbelt, Maryland, of two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.  The jury returned its verdict late on March 25, 2021. 

The verdict was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Jonathan F. Lenzner; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

According to testimony presented at his four-day trial, Remarque previously held positions at the International Bureau of Children’s Rights in Montreal, Canada, and as a Child Protective Officer for the United Nations in Africa.  In May 2018, law enforcement received information that Remarque was engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 15-year-old female.  In addition, Remarque was believed to have sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors on his cell phone.  On July 17, 2018, a federal search warrant was executed at Remarque’s residence in Greenbelt.  Investigators recovered an external hard drive that contained files that had been copied from one of Remarque’s phones.  The evidence presented at trial proved that on November 16 and November 22, 2017, Remarque received sexually explicit images of minors.  Further, the evidence showed that the files included a collection of approximately 100 images of child pornography, including sexually explicit images depicting prepubescent minors. 

As a result of his conviction, upon his release from prison, Remarque will be required to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). 

Remarque faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of the two counts of receipt of child pornography, and a maximum of 10 years in prison for possession of child pornography.   U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has not yet scheduled a sentencing date.

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 Attorney’s 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.         

Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner commended HSI and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Lenzner thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hagan and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim, who are prosecuting the federal case.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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Contact

Marcia Murphy
(410) 209-4854

Updated March 26, 2021

Topic
Project Safe Childhood