Alan Clifton, Child Pornography, Maryland 2023

Baltimore, Maryland – A Halethorpe man has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for his role in a child pornography case. Alan Clifton, 27, was sentenced to 7 years in prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release, for possession, receipt and transportation of child pornography.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein and other law enforcement officials. According to evidence presented at Clifton's four-day trial, he used a file-sharing program to share images of child pornography. On October 11, 2011, an undercover detective downloaded three videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct from Clifton's files.

A search warrant was subsequently executed at Clifton's residence by the Baltimore County Police Department Crimes Against Children Unit and officers seized Clifton's laptop computer, which was found in his bedroom, another computer, an external hard disk drive, and other digital media. An on-scene forensic scan of Clifton's laptop computer revealed images of child pornography.

A subsequent forensic examination of the external hard drive recovered 3700 files of child pornography, including the three videos that had been downloaded by the undercover detective.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, HSI Baltimore and Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Judson T. Mihok and Peter J. Martinez, who prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/halethorpe-man-sentenced-7-years-prison-possession-receipt-and-transportation-child