A 25-year-old Solomons man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for producing child pornography, a crime that U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein described as ‘typical of the predators children routinely encounter on the internet.’
Rod Rosenstein announced that Joshua P. Blakenship was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for producing child pornography. Judge Roger W. Titus ordered that upon his release from prison, Blakenship 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).
Blakenship was identified and his residence searched on August 5, 2011, after he was found to have been forcing individuals to send him pictures and creating a fake profile on the Internet to gain access to pictures and videos of girls.
According to his plea agreement, Blakenship ‘friended’ a teenage girl on Facebook in January 2011 and asked her for a nude photo of herself. The girl sent Blakenship a nude photo she took on her cell phone, and he subsequently demanded more explicit photos from her.
Special Agent in Charge of HSI Baltimore William Winter said that individuals who sexually exploit children think they can hide behind their computers and not be discovered by law enforcement, but ‘think again.’ HSI special agents along with domestic and international law enforcement partners have joined forces to aggressively investigate and apprehend these predators.
Blakenship’s 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. The initiative marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
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Related Federal Cases
- Teacher Flynn Indicted for Child Pornography Distribution · Maryland
- Potomac Man Sentenced to Over 7 Years for Child Pornography Receipt · Maryland
- Baltimore Man Sentenced to Three Years for Child Pornography Possession · Alabama
- San Angelo Man Sentenced to 188 Months for Child Pornography · Maryland
- Ohio Predator Sentenced for Child Pornography · Maryland
Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Category: Sex Crimes|Cybercrime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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