Schuykill County Man Indicted For Producing And Possessing Child Pornography

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a federal grand jury in Scranton returned an indictment today charging a Schuykill County man with the production and possession of child pornography.

     According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Robert Lee Raeder, Jr., age 45, of Tamaqua, Schuykill County, was charged by the grand jury for allegedly committing the offenses at various times between January 2001 through December 2012. It is alleged that Raeder produced videos and other images and then maintained them on his computer.

     The charges against Raeder stem from an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

     Raeder is currently in custody on related state charges.

     U.S. Attorney Smith requests that anyone with information related to this matter please contact the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Tipline at 1-866-347-2423.

     This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

     Prosecution is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski.

     Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

     A sentence following a finding of guilty is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

     In this particular case, the mandatory minimum penalty under the federal statute is 15 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.