Former aide to U.S. Senator pleads guilty to possession of child pornography

Washington, D.C. - James Michael McHaney, 28, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today before the Honorable Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of Possession of Child Pornography, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

McHaney, who was employed as an aid to a U.S. Senator at the time of his arrest, faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000 at sentencing. Under the federal sentencing guidelines, the defendant faces between 97 to 120 months in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the government's evidence, on November 30, 2007, a cooperating witness ("CW") working in an undercover capacity under the supervision of law enforcement agents, went on-line and observed that "Mike," previously identified as James "Michael" McHaney, was on-line with the screen name of "lilmikierocks." The CW and "Mike" had previously met and had exchanged images of child pornography. At approximately 12:15 p.m., the CW initiated contact by saying "Hey, what's up?" The on-line conversation took place using AOL.

After approximately ten minutes, the CW asked "Mike" whether he was going to be at work all day, to which "Mike" responded that he could take a long lunch. CW asked whether "Mike" was interested in engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy, and "Mike" replied, "I'll be there." "Mike" asked whether the child was at the CW's residence and agreed to meet the CW and the child there. "Mike" then asked whether the CW had a photograph of the child with whom he and the CW were going to have sex and whether the child had "pubes" (referring to pubic hair). When the CW answered "barely any pubes" and "none under his arms" to the latter question, "Mike" replied that was "hot." "Mike" also agreed to bring "visual aids" on a flash drive that contained both videos and over 1000 images of child pornography. "Mike" said that his hard drive was at another individual's house being loaded with more images of child pornography.

At approximately 1:15 p.m., law enforcement officers observed James Michael McHaney at the lobby of the CW's residence, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., and he was placed under arrest. A search incident to the arrest of the defendant revealed a flash drive which contained in excess of 600 images of child pornography. The majority of the pornographic images were of prepubescent males, which the defendant possessed for his personal use, and to distribute to others. The ages of the children appeared to range from approximately three to five years old to young teens. Among the images were movie files depicting prepubescent male children engaging in sexual acts.

In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the quick action and investigative work of a joint task force consisting of Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Timothy Palchak, Jonathan Andrews, Morani Hines, Miguel Miranda, and Lieutenant Patricia Williams, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents Scott Schelbe, Michael French, David Solis, Jill Blackman, Daniel Bradley, Chadwick Elegersma, and Chad Gallagher. Finally, Mr. Taylor commended Latoya Wade, who provided paralegal support; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean Sexton, who is prosecuting this case.

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