Maryland man sentenced to 6 years in prison for distributing child pornography

BALTIMORE — A Maryland man was sentenced today to six years in prison, followed by 35 years of supervised release, for distributing child pornography. The sentence is the result of an extensive investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Baltimore County Police Department.

Gregory C. Bukowski, 22, of Baltimore, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar. Upon his release from prison, Bukowski 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).

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, District of Maryland; William Winter, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Baltimore; Richard A. McFeely, special agent in charge of the FBI in Baltimore; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

"The defendant paid cash to watch as a child was sexually abused at his command," said U.S. Attorney Rosenstein. "The child was abused in the Philippines while the defendant directed the activity from his computer in Maryland."

According to the plea agreement, on April 30, 2010, Bukowski was at his residence and using a computer that was logged on to the Internet and running a peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing program. An undercover Baltimore County detective downloaded three files from Bukowski, which contained visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The Baltimore County detective obtained a search warrant for the Bukowski's residence, which was executed on May 18, 2010. Baltimore County Police Department personnel seized and subsequently forensically examined a computer, external hard drive and other digital media. These items contained at least 600 images depicting prepubescent minors, under the age of 12, engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including sadistic or masochistic conduct, or other depictions of violence.

During the search, Bukowski was interviewed and admitted that he used a file sharing program to download, trade and view child pornography. Bukowski also stated that he frequented websites where he paid to watch children being sexually abused live on the Internet. Through the website, Bukowski was able to direct adults in the Philippines to perform sexually explicit acts on the children in real time by typing the request on his computer. Bukowski admitted that he sought out child pornography on the Internet and knowingly made the images available for others to download.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE HSI 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 HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE. 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 commended ICE HSI, the FBI and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.