Travis Glies Pleads Guilty

A 38-year-old former resident of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, has pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor. Travis Glies, of Allison Park, Pennsylvania, entered his guilty plea before United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak.

According to the plea agreement, from January of 2016 to February of 2016, Glies produced visual depictions of the sexual exploitation of a minor. Judge Hornak has scheduled sentencing for April 25, 2017. The law provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of 30 years for the production of child pornography.

Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, and the Allegheny County Police Department conducted the investigation leading to the prosecution of Glies.

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. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

Acting United States Attorney Soo C. Song announced the guilty plea, stating that the production of child pornography is a serious crime that will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. The public can also report suspected cases of child exploitation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.