Two Men Sentenced to Prison for Participation in Online Conspiracy to Trade Child Pornography

WASHINGTON – An Oregon man and a Virginia man were sentenced to prison for their role in a conspiracy to advertise, distribute and possess child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Anne M. Tompkins.

Michael Engelking, 37, of Alexandria, Va., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Voorhees in the Western District of North Carolina to serve 210 months in prison and lifetime supervised release.

David Large, 50, of Salem, Ore., was sentenced yesterday by Judge Voorhees to serve 70 months in prison and 10 years of supervised release.

Following their release, both Engelking and Large must register as sex offenders.
 
In November 2010, a grand jury charged six individuals, including Engelking and Large, with conspiracy to advertise, distribute and possess child pornography. Both Engelking and Large pleaded guilty to the charges in July 2011.  According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Engelking and Large engaged in a conspiracy with others to share child pornography on Facebook.  Court records indicate that both Engelking and Large were members of several Facebook groups dedicated to sharing child pornography and child erotica, including groups called “girls girls girls :)” and “little girls love to play to :)”.  These groups contained over 10,000 images of child pornography and child erotica.  According to filed documents and statements made in court, Engelking uploaded images of child pornography to the “girls girls girls :)” group.  In August 2010, agents with the FBI executed a search warrant at Engelking and Larges’s residences and seized multiple computers and storage media.  Hundreds of images of child pornography were located on these items.  Court records show that the images on Engelking’s laptop included violent depictions of children being raped and abused.

James Byrd, another co-conspirator, was sentenced in August 2012 to serve 87 months in prison.  The remaining three co-conspirators are scheduled to be sentenced in December 2012.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Unit headquartered in Maryland.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cortney S. Escaravage of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS.