FBI Arrest District of Columbia Man Following Indictment on Charges of Distribution of Child Pornography

            WASHINGTON – Gustav Donald Seestedt, 37, of Northwest Washington D.C., was taken into custody on Thursday, May 16, 2024, following an indictment charging him with distribution of child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The government alleges that on May 7, 2024, Seestedt exchanged messages with an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) assigned to the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) through an encrypted messaging application.  During the chat, Seestedt expressed a sexual interest in children and sent the UC four videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including one video depicting the anal rape of a toddler who was crying and resisting her assailant.

            Distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a statutory maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment. The statutory sentences for federal offenses are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes. Any sentence will be determined by the Court based on the advisory Sentencing Guideline and other statutory factors.

            The case is being investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and MPD’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. 

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Shinskie of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

            This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the 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.justice.gov/psc.

            An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.