United States Attorney's Office
Eastern District of Virginia

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United States Attorney Check Rosenberg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jim Rybicki

Public Information Officer

Phone (703) 842-4050 Fax: (703) 549-5202

Email: usavae.press@usdoj.gov

Web Address: www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae

February 14, 2008

District man pleads guilty to possession of child pornography
-- More than 600 hundred images of child porn found on his computer --

Washington, D.C. - A 34-year-old Northwest District of Columbia man, Sidney Spain, has pled guilty to possessing child pornography in November 2007, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

Spain pled guilty yesterday afternoon 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. He faces a maximum of up to ten years in prison when sentenced in May 2008.

According to the government's evidence, on Friday, November 9, 2007, at approximately 12:27 p.m., members of the Metropolitan Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a federal search warrant at the defendant's apartment, located in the 1300 block of U Street, NW, Washington, D.C. Among the items recovered in the search of the defendant's residence was a Western Digital external hard drive, a Dell Dimension 8300 desktop computer, an IBM Thinkpad laptop computer, and an HP DV400 laptop computer with a "North Carolina" sticker. Analysis revealed that the computers and the hard drive contained in excess of 600 images of child pornography, that the majority of the pornographic images were of prepubescent males, and that defendant possessed these images for his personal use, and to distribute them 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 approximately ten years old 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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