Thomas Cargill, age 42, of formerly of Hollywood, Maryland,  has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release for possession of child pornography.  He will receive an enhanced sentence because of a previous state conviction for a sexual offense involving a child or children.  Cargill is also required to register as a sex offender and may not have any computer access without the permission of and monitoring by U.S. Parole and Probation.

 According to his guilty plea, Cargill’s girlfriend brought two CDs, which she suspected contained child pornography and Cargill’s desktop computer to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office.  Detectives viewed the two CDs and saw numerous pictures of prepubescent females, from as young as about 6-years-old, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

 Feb. 20, 2007, St. Mary’s County detectives interviewed Cargill, who admitted that he downloaded child pornography from the Internet approximately twice a week, using a file sharing program. Cargill’s CDs and computer were subsequently forensically examined by FBI agents.  The CDs contained approximately 271 images of child pornography

 On July 20, 2005, Cargill pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s County, Maryland, to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended, and one year supervised probation.