Robert Marzola, Child Pornography, Maryland 2013

Essex Man Pleads Guilty to Producing Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – A 31-year-old man from Essex, Maryland, has admitted to producing child pornography, a serious crime that has sparked outrage in the community.

Robert Marzola, age 31, of Essex, Maryland, pleaded guilty to producing child pornography on July 19, 2012, at his home in Baltimore County. According to his plea agreement, Marzola sexually abused a minor male at his home to produce images of himself and the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct between December 2011 and July 2012.

Marzola saved the images on his laptop and told the boy not to tell anyone about their conduct, which Marzola described to the boy as a game. The police discovered the images during an investigation into a peer-to-peer network, and a search warrant was executed at Marzola’s residence, where they seized a camera, desk top computer, laptop computer, and an SD card.

The images and videos that Marzola had previously produced of the boy were found on his laptop, along with 18 additional videos of children engaged in sexual conduct. Marzola 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).

As part of his plea agreement, Marzola faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander has scheduled sentencing for November 7, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.

Marzola’s case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the federal government to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/essex-man-pleads-guilty-producing-child-pornography