Repeat Offender Pleads Guilty to Possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material after Downloading Hundreds of Images

PORTLAND, Maine: A Lewiston man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to possessing child sexual abuse material.

According to court records, in April 2023, a Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit learned that a computer at an IP address belonging to Mark A. Burns, 60, had shared a sexually explicit image of a child under the age of 6. Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant at Burns’ residence where Burns admitted that he had downloaded child sexual abuse material. A preliminary search of his tablet revealed that it contained hundreds of videos and images of children with ages ranging from infants to young teens engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Burns was convicted in 2016 in a court of the State of Maine for possessing sexually explicit material involving a child under the age of 12. As a result of that prior conviction, Burns now faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to a lifetime of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit investigated the case.

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt or production of child pornography: Child sexual abuse material – "child pornography" – captures the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document victims’ exploitation and abuse, and they suffer re-victimization every time the images are viewed. File a report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at https://report.cybertip.org/ or 1-800-843-5678. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the free, private 24-hour statewide sexual assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741.

Project Safe Childhood: 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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, visit www.justice.gov/psc.

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