GREENBELT, Md. (Jan. 29, 2009) - U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. sentenced Timothy Fruth, age 55, of Indian Head, Maryland, to five years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for possession of child pornography, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.
According to his guilty plea, on April 22, 2008, federal agents executed a search warrant at Fruth’s residence, seizing three desktop computers, one external hard drive and several pieces of removable media. Forensic analysis of these items revealed more than 40,000 images of child pornography, some of which were video files. Some of the images documented the sexual abuse of prepubescent children as well as sadistic conduct or other depictions of violence. A number of these images had been downloaded by Fruth from internet sites.
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.
Source: United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein