Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of a Child

Baltimore, Maryland – David Donnell Fulton, 32, of York, Pennsylvania, pled guilty to one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office; Francis Chardo, District Attorney for Dauphin County; Chief County Detective Corey Dickerson, Dauphin County; and Chief Garth W. Waner, Derry Township Police Department.

According to the guilty plea, during Memorial Day Weekend 2024, Fulton traveled with friends and family to Great Wolf Lodge in Elkton, Maryland.  While a 7-year-old minor victim slept, Fulton used his iPhone to capture an image of her genitals.  A few days later, during a search of Fulton’s home, law enforcement seized several devices and found Fulton with an image of the 7-year-old victim, as well as multiple images of commercially available child sex abuse material.  

Fulton faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison, followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release, for the Sexual Exploitation of a Child. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander scheduled sentencing for Tuesday December 16, at 11 a.m. 

This case is 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 justice.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI, District Attorney’s Office for Dauphin County, Criminal Investigations Division for Dauphin County, and the Derry Township Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn who is prosecuting the federal case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

# # #