Pikesville Man Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Eliot Knecht Friedman, age 57, is a resident of Pikesville, Maryland today to two years in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography. Judge Bredar ordered that upon his release from prison, Friedman 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).  Freidman is a former contract employee at the National Security Agency.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Ivan Arvelo of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

According to Friedman’s plea agreement, on June 27, 2014, a Baltimore County police detective was conducting an investigation regarding child pornography located an IP address on the a file sharing network that was sharing files suspected of depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  The detective downloaded files containing child pornography that were being shared from that IP address.  Records showed that Friedman was the subscriber for that IP address and Baltimore County detectives obtained a search warrant for the residence.

On July 22, 2014, members of the Baltimore County Police Department executed the warrant at Friedman’s residence.  Law enforcement seized a desktop computer, five external hard drives and digital media.  More than 150,000 images of child pornography, including images and videos of prepubescent minors, were subsequently found on the computer and other media associated with Friedman.       

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 HSI Baltimore, the FBI, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Ayn B. Ducao, who prosecuted the case.