North Wilmington Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Production and Transportation of Child Pornography
WILMINGTON, Del. – Leonard Wasylyk, age 49, of Wilmington, Delaware, was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for production and transportation of child pornography, in violation of federal law. Wasylyk also was sentenced to a life term of supervised release, which will commence following his prison term. He also will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school.
According to statements made and documents filed in court, an undercover agent from the Wilmington office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified Wasylyk during an online undercover investigation into a private peer-to-peer network being used to trade images of child pornography. After downloading computer files containing child pornography from Wasylyk’s home computer, federal agents arrested Wasylyk and executed a search warrant at his North Wilmington residence on December 9, 2010. Law enforcement agents recovered a computer from Wasylyk’s bedroom that contained over 60,000 images, and over 700 movies, of child pornography, mostly featuring prepubescent and teenage boys engaged in sexual acts with each other or with adult males. Data recovered from Wasylyk’s computer revealed that he established an elaborate private online network of over 150 child sex offenders with whom he traded images of child pornography and bragged about his multiple molestations of victims.
During the forensic review of Wasylyk’s computer, agents discovered over 60 images of a young boy engaged in sexually explicit conduct with Wasylyk in the bedroom of his Wilmington residence. Agents subsequently identified the child and located him in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The child reported that Wasylyk had sexually abused him for a number of years and had produced the sexually explicit images while babysitting him. The child was then 12 to 13 years old. The forensic analysis also revealed that Wasylyk distributed the sexually explicit images of the child that he produced to other child sex offenders while bragging about having molested the boy.
The investigation revealed that Wasylyk also sexually abused, or assisted another sex offender in abusing, at least three other young boys. In March of 2009, Wasylyk had been placed on the Pennsylvania Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse stemming from his abuse of two young boys he babysat in January 2009. Forensic data from Wasylyk’s seized computer revealed that a digital camera seized from Wasylyk’s bedroom had been used, in May 2004, to
photograph another prepubescent child engaged in sexually explicit conduct with another child sex offender.
Following the sentencing hearing, United States Attorney Charles M. Oberly, III stated, “The sexual abuse of a child is among the most heinous of crimes in our society. Mr. Wasylyk didn’t stop with trading images of child pornography made by others. He physically abused multiple boys entrusted to his care. Mr. Wasylyk also photographed the sexual abuse of two children and then distributed the images of his abuse of one of them to like-minded child sex offenders who shared his criminal perversion. By his actions, Mr. Wasylyk ensured that his physical and psychological abuse of these children will be perpetuated in the digital world. Today’s sentencing ensures that Mr. Wasylyk will be incarcerated for at least 30 years and that other children will be spared future sexual abuse.”
"Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is committed to stopping predators in their tracks and today's sentencing underscores that fact," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of HSI in Philadelphia. "While we cannot give back the innocence to those who were abused and exploited, we can make sure that justice is served."