Previously Convicted Owings Mills Sex Offender Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Porngraphy

Baltimore, Maryland – Shawn Joseph Eisenstein, age 28, of Owings Mills, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography. Eisenstein was previously convicted of distribution of child pornography in Baltimore County and was required to register as a sex offender.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department; and Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

According to Eisenstein’s plea agreement, on May 28, 2008, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, Maryland, Eisenstein was convicted of distribution of child pornography, and was sentenced to five years’ incarceration, with three years and six months suspended.  Eisenstein was placed on three years of probation upon his release from prison and was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

According to his plea agreement, in July 2014, Eisenstein uploaded images containing child pornography to his email account.  Following the email provider’s discovery of the images, a search warrant for Eisenstein’s residence was executed on July 29, 2014.  Eisenstein was present during the execution of the search warrant.  After being advised of his rights, Eisenstein voluntarily spoke to the investigators and admitted to using his cell phone and his email accounts to trade files of child pornography with people he met on an image board website.  He stated that he viewed the child pornography on his cell phone.  

During the search warrant, investigator’s seized Eisenstein’s cell phone, which was forensically examined by a Baltimore County Computer Forensic Examiner (CFE), and found to contain over 100 images of children engaged in child pornography.  In all, Eisenstein possessed over 600 images of child pornography, including pre-pubescent children and images portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct, or other depictions of violence.

Eisenstein further admitted that in October 2011, while still on probation for his previous conviction for distribution of child pornography, he used an email account to communicate with an undercover Baltimore County detective who represented himself as a 13 year old female.  During those conversations Eisenstein discussed meeting the “girl” to engage in sexually explicit conduct.

As part of his plea agreement, Eisenstein must 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).

Eisenstein and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement Eisenstein will be sentenced to 11 years in prison followed by up to a lifetime of supervised release.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell has scheduled sentencing for June 12, 2015, at 2:00 p.m.

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

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, HSI Baltimore, Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Budlow, who prosecuted the case.