03/18/2011

News / Previously Convicted Cambridge Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

Also Admits to Sexually Exploiting Two Minor Girls to Produce Child Pornography

BALTIMORE, MD—Shane Stoner, age 28, of Cambridge, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possession of child pornography.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Chief Kenneth W. Malik of the Cambridge Police Department; and Dorchester County State’s Attorney William H. Jones.

According to the plea agreement, during at least October and November 2009, Stoner engaged in sexually explicit conduct with a 15-year-old girl. On November 8, 2009, Stoner took nude photographs of the girl. Beginning no later than July 2009, and continuing through February 2010, Stoner engaged in sexually explicit conduct with another 15-year-old girl and on January 14, 2010, Stoner photographed his sexual abuse of the minor girl.

On February 17, 2010, members of the Cambridge Police Department searched Stoner’s residence in Cambridge, and recovered the photos of the two minor girls from a memory card found in the home.

As part of his plea agreement, Stoner 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).

On May 22, 2002, Stoner pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for Dorchester County, Maryland to a fourth degree sex offense and was sentenced the same day to one year in prison, nine months of which were suspended.

Since Stoner has a prior conviction relating to sexual abuse of a minor, he faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of 20 years in prison, followed by up to lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson, has scheduled sentencing for June 8, 2011 at 9:30 a.m.

Stoner is currently serving a sentence of 20 years in prison, with five years suspended, on related state charges, as well another four-and-a-half years for violation of probation on his previous conviction.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States 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.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

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

http://baltimore.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel11/ba031711.htm

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