Kevin Heiting, Child Pornography Distribution, Maryland 2023

A Silver Spring man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for distributing child pornography.

Kevin Heiting, 30, was sentenced by United States District Judge Paula Xinis on [date] in Greenbelt, Maryland. Heiting will also serve a lifetime of supervised release following his prison term.

The charges against Heiting stem from a lead received by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) from the Swiss Cybercrime Coordination Unit of the Swiss Federal Police regarding an individual distributing child pornography using a Virtual Private Network based in Switzerland.

On May 19, 2016, a federal search warrant was executed at Heiting’s residence in Silver Spring, Maryland, and law enforcement seized five hard drives, two laptop computers, a tower computer, and a cellular telephone. A forensic analysis of just one of the seized hard drives revealed more than 17,913 video files and 405,071 image files, many of which depicted children, including infants and toddlers, engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Heiting will be required to 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).

A hearing will be held in July 2018 to determine the amount of restitution to be paid to child pornography victims.

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.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/silver-spring-man-sentenced-20-years-prison-distribution-child-pornography