Baltimore, Maryland - Gary Scott Conway, age 45, of Havre de Grace, Maryland, pleaded guilty late yesterday to transporting child pornography.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Kevin Perkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Idaho Office; Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff Stephen Bartlett; Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey R. Gahler; and U.S. Marshal Johnny Hughes.
According to his plea agreement, Conway collected child pornography on the internet. From October 2014 to July 2015, Conway used an internet chat website to communicate with adults and minor children. Beginning on March 30, 2015, he uploaded child pornography to an internet-based file storage service.
On May 29, 2015, representatives from the internet-based file storage service notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Conway’s account contained at least 35 videos of child pornography. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office investigated, determined that the files were uploaded from Conway’s residence, and executed a search warrant at the residence on July 8, 2015. Investigators seized various digital media, including a desktop computer. Forensic analysis of that computer revealed at least 350 images of child pornography, including depictions of prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts.
Conway’s internet file storage service account was examined pursuant to a search warrant, and was found to contain approximately 3,174 unique images and 319 unique videos of child pornography. The videos and images depicted prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexual acts with adult men, including oral sex and anal sex.
On July 14, 2015, Conway took his wife’s vehicle and fled Maryland. Conway had previously been convicted in 2004 in the Circuit Court for Harford County, Maryland of sexual offense in the third degree for having oral sex with a 15 year old victim, and was sentenced to 10 years’ incarceration, all of which was initially suspended. When he fled Maryland, Conway failed to notify the Maryland Sex Offender Registration authorities, as required by law. He travelled to Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Arizona and Idaho.
While in Arizona, Conway stayed at a resort in Sedona for 12 days. During that time, he did not notify the state of Arizona of his sex offender status; and two families complained to the local authorities that Conway made inappropriate sexual advances toward their teenage sons. After being questioned by Sedona Police, Conway left Sedona before his resort reservation was completed. He travelled to Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, and then to Idaho.
Conway stayed in Idaho for more than three weeks, never notifying the state authorities of his sex offender status. He was arrested in Idaho on Aug. 26, 2015.
Conway admitted that as a medical professional in the Navy, he once performed oral sex on a male patient while the patient was sedated.
He also admitted to sexually molesting a severely autistic, non-verbal boy while the victim was 11 to 13 years old; having sexual contact on multiple occasions with an eight year old girl; sexually molesting two infants, one of which was the child of a Navy colleague whom he was babysitting; fondling two boys between the ages of nine and 10 years old while playing with them in and around a pool; and engaging in sex acts with two different 15 year old boys who he met online.
As part of his plea agreement, Conway 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).
Conway faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz scheduled sentencing for September 9, 2016 at 9:00 a.m.
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, Harford County Sheriff’s Office, Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff’s Office; and U.S. Marshal Service for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Budlow, who is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
