Waldorf Man Sentenced to 17 Years for Distribution of Child Porn

GREENBELT, Md. (March 22, 2016)—U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel sentenced Richard Spivey, age 52, of Waldorf, Maryland, today to 17 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for distribution of child pornography. U.S. District Judge George J. Hazel ordered that upon his release from prison, Spivey 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). Spivey was taken into custody immediately following his guilty plea on September 25, 2015 and he remains detained.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to Spivey's plea agreement, between January 29 and 30, 2014, Spivey used a file sharing program to distribute over 2,000 files depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. A search warrant was executed at Spivey's residence on June 18, 2014, and law enforcement seized numerous electronic devices, including a desktop computer, a laptop computer and two external hard drives. A forensic review of the electronic devices found thousands of image files and hundreds of movie files containing child pornography. Some of the files portrayed sadistic and masochistic conduct and other depictions of violence, as well as images of infants and toddlers.

In addition, on Spivey's electronic devices law enforcement found videos that Spivey produced, depicting a prepubescent female in different stages of undress. Spivey admitted that he surreptitiously recorded the child while she was undressing, using a hidden camera. These videos constitute child pornography. Finally, Spivey also admitted surreptitiously producing videos of an adult female, while that person was in the bathroom in various stages of undress.

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 Attorneys' 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.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, for its work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicolas A. Mitchell and Kristi A. O'Malley, who prosecuted the case.