Baltimore, Maryland - United States District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Eric Nathaniel Sammons, age 25, of Trappe, Maryland today to 35 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Superintendent of the Maryland State Police William M. Pallozzi, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Cardell Morant of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore Field Office.
According to his plea agreement, between 2014 and 2016, Sammons sexually exploited four minors and produced images of the minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Additionally, Sammons maintained a collection of child pornography on his digital devices.
Prior to May 25, 2016, Sammons set up a hidden camera in the bathroom of a twelve-year-old male victim and recorded a series of 47 videos.
On approximately October 6, 2015, Sammons took a series of 32 photographs of Jane Doe 1, including images that depicted the child partially naked and in various poses.
From approximately May 26, 2016 through September 2016, Sammons was living in the detached garage of a residence in Caroline County. During this time, he sneaked into the bedroom of two female victims, ages 3 and 5, and produced 11 pornographic images of Jane Doe 2 and Jane Doe 3 engaged in sexually explicit conduct while they slept.
Sammons’ digital devices were forensically examined. Investigators found images and videos of child pornography on the devices and determined that his mobile phone, the digital camera, and the video camera were used to produce the child pornography. The devices contained the images of the victims that Sammons had produced and over 3,000 images additional files of child pornography.
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 side of the page.
United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended Homeland Security Investigations, the Talbot County Narcotics Task Force, the Maryland State Police, and the State’s Attorney’s Offices and Child Protective Services of Caroline and Talbot Counties for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant United States Attorney Paul Budlow, who is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
