Maryland man sentenced to 20 years for sexually abusing a child to produce child pornography

BALTIMORE – A Washington County man was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release for sexually abusing a child to produce child pornography following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

Paul Hade, 43, of Hagerstown, Md., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett. Judge Bennett also ordered that upon his release from prison, Hade 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).

"This sentence represents our commitment and responsibility to identifying, investigating and arresting individuals who seek to sexually exploit minors and bring them to justice," said William Winter, special agent in charge of the Baltimore ICE HSI office. "Unfortunately, we cannot restore the lost innocence of the child who was victimized by this sexual predator, however, we hope today's sentence further protects our community from those that threaten our youth."

According to the plea agreement, in May 2010, a child reported that Hade had sexually abused her from the time she was eight years old until she was 10 years old. On May 15, 2010, ICE HSI special agents executed a search warrant at Hade's residence and recovered pictures and a video documenting the sexual abuse of the child. Hade admitted that he instructed the child on how to pose for the pictures. ICE HSI agents subsequently arrested Hade on federal criminal charges.

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 or its online tip form. Both are 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.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi N. O'Malley.