Baltimore, Maryland -George J. Emge, age 27, of Halethorpe, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to distributing child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

        According to his guilty plea, on November 1, 2006, a search warrant was executed at Emge’s home and agents seized numerous items such as computers, disks, camera equipment, videos, and photographs.  Emge admitted to having images of child pornography on his computer and that he traded child pornography with 10 to 12 other people on the internet, giving them child pornography in expectation of receiving additional child pornography.

        On November 3, 2006, a forensic search of  Emge’s computer hard drives revealed more than 30,000 images and 1,800 movie files of child pornography on  Emge’s desktop and laptop computers.  Most of the images depicted prepubescent minors, including known child victims,  and included sadistic and masochistic images depicting child pornography. 

        Emge faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years, and a maximum of 20 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life.  U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis has scheduled sentencing for May 16, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.

        This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.projectsafechildhood.gov.  Details about Maryland’s program are available at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html http://.

        United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Baltimore County Police Department for their investigative work.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie S. Greenberg, who is prosecuting the case.