Maryland man sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child to produce child pornography

BALTIMORE - U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced Jeremy Guzewicz, 28, of Parkville, Md., today to 15 years in prison followed by supervised release for life for sexually exploiting a child to produce child pornography.

Judge Garbis also ordered Guzewicz 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 is the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein, Special Agent in Charge William Winter of ICE HSI in Baltimore, Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the FBI, Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department and Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger.

"The Internet has become a way of life and can be an extremely beneficial tool," said Special Agent in Charge Winter. "However, parents must be ever vigilant in being aware of their children's Internet activity and remember that predators are increasingly utilizing social networking sites to prey on children. HSI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to combat the exploitation of children."

According to his guilty plea, beginning in July 2006, Guzewicz portrayed himself on an internet social networking site - that is marketed towards teenagers - as an older man with stepchildren. In fact, he is single and has no children. Guzewicz introduced himself to a 12-year-old girl living in Massachusetts and soon thereafter, instructed the girl to send him sexually explicit pictures of herself. Guzewicz called the victim many times by phone, and sent her a sexually explicit picture which he represented was of himself.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE 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.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

U.S. Attorney Rosenstein thanked ICE HSI, the FBI, the Baltimore County Police Department and the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office for their work in this investigation and prosecution.

Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Crooks, who prosecuted the case.