Annapolis Man Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced David Gould, age 59, of

Annapolis, Maryland, today to three years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for possession of child pornography. Judge Blake also ordered that Gould pay a $7,500 fine. Upon Gould’s release from prison, he is required to 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).

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to the plea agreement, Gould engaged in communications with other Internet users through peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file sharing networks and chat rooms. Gould made numerous digital files available to other P2P users, including files that contained visual depictions of minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

On February 24, 2012, a search warrant was executed at Gould’s residence and four laptop computers, two external hard drives and multiple pieces of removable media, among other items, were recovered. Agents also searched a storage unit belonging to Gould, and recovered five additional hard drives. The forensic examination of some of these items uncovered at least 29 videos and more than 600 images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including one of the images which Gould distributed on September 13, 2011, as well as numerous images of young children bound and restrained and subject to physical and sexual abuse. Gould admitted that he has been trading and collecting child pornography for over ten years and that he has discarded multiple computers containing child pornography.

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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the "resources" tab on the left of the page.

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. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended HSI Baltimore for its work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark W. Crooks, who prosecuted the case.