BALTIMORE – United States District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced Brian Kenneth McCort, age 41, of Aberdeen, Maryland today to five years in prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release, for distribution of child pornography. Judge Garbis ordered that, upon his release from prison, McCort must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Craig Jr. of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service – Mid Atlantic; and Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
According to his plea agreement, on three occasions between June and July 2015, using a peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file-sharing program connected to the internet, an investigator with the Maryland State Police (MSP) downloaded numerous files of child pornography from the McCort’s computer.
On September 2, 2015, a federal search warrant was executed at McCort’s residence and investigators seized McCort’s laptop that contained at least 26 images and 213 videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Additional digital storage devices were recovered including a flash drive containing at least 152 images and 17 videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the victims were as young as 2 years old.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “resources” tab on the left of the page.
Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning praised HSI Baltimore, DCIS, and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Budlow and Daniel Gardner who prosecuted the case.