Maryland man sentenced to 17 years for sexual exploitation of a child to produce child pornography and related charges

GREENBELT, Maryland – Roy David Evans, Jr., age 34, of Essex, Maryland, was sentenced today to 17 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor to produce child pornography, possession of child pornography, and receipt of child pornography. The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore and the Montgomery County Police Department.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis also ordered that upon his release from prison, Evans is required to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

According to Evans’ plea agreement and evidence presented at today’s sentencing hearing, Evans posted advertisements on Craigslist for “young models” and encouraged girls to contact him via e-mail or via Kik, a social messaging application where users can text, livestream, and send digital images and videos to one another.  Evans admitted that he enticed and coerced three minor victims to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce images of that conduct. Evans received sexually explicit images and videos of the victims via Kik. Evans sent at least three of those images and videos to himself through the Internet.  Evans further admitted that he traveled to Montgomery County, Maryland in order to engage in sexual conduct with a 14-year-old victim. Evans admitted that he solicited at least two other minors to create and send sexually explicit images and videos of themselves after they had responded to his advertisements.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelly O'Connell Hayes and Timothy Hagan prosecuted the federal 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 Attorney’s 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.