Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher sentenced Haitian national Jean Buteau Remarque, age 40, of Greenbelt, Maryland, today to 90 months in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. The jury convicted Remarque late on March 25, 2021 after a four-day trial. Judge Gallagher also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Remarque must register as a sex offender in the places 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 United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; and Colonel Woodrow W. Jones III, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.
According to testimony presented at his four-day trial, Remarque previously held positions at the International Bureau of Children’s Rights in Montreal, Canada, and as a Child Protective Officer for the United Nations in Africa. In May 2018, law enforcement received information that Remarque was engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 15-year-old female. In addition, Remarque was believed to have sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors on his cell phone. On July 17, 2018, a federal search warrant was executed at Remarque’s residence in Greenbelt. Investigators recovered an external hard drive that contained files that had been copied from one of Remarque’s phones. The evidence presented at trial proved that on November 16 and Nov. 22, 2017, Remarque received sexually explicit images of minors. Further, the evidence showed that the files included a collection of approximately 311 images and two videos of child pornography, including sexually explicit images depicting prepubescent minors.
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 of the page.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended HSI and the Maryland State Police for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Hagan, who prosecuted the case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
