Escaped Drug Trafficker Sentenced To 22 Years In Prison For Making And Possessing Child Pornography

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Shane A. Lopez, age 29, of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on June 10, 2024, to 22 years’ imprisonment by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner for sexual exploitation of children and escape.

 According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, in November 2020, Lopez was serving the remainder of his federal drug trafficking sentence at a residential rehabilitation facility in Harrisburg when he escaped. On May 21, 2021, police arrested him at a residence in Mahanoy City. Police seized his and uncovered evidence of child pornography.  An investigation of his phone as well as accounts he controlled revealed that he had over a 1,000 images and videos of child pornography, including a video he made of an 18-month-old girl.

On November 20, 2023, Lopez pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children as well as escape from a detention facility.

Judge Conner sentenced Lopez to 20 years in prison for sexual exploitation of children. He also imposed a consecutive sentence of two years in prison for the crime of escape.  When he is released from prison, Lopez is to serve five years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshal Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Ford is prosecuting the case.

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.

# # #