The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Anthony Lauro, age 35, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by United States District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner for receiving child pornography.  Judge Conner also ordered Lauro to pay $24,000 in restitution to victims of his offenses, and to serve 10 years on supervised release following his prison sentence.

According to U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam, Lauro pleaded guilty to receiving images and videos of child pornography that were sent to him by another Cumberland County resident named Ryan Banks, who created the illicit images with a 14-year-old boy in West Virginia in September 2020 when Banks was 36.  Banks is currently serving a 17 ½ to 35-year prison sentence in West Virginia for his offenses.  Lauro was found to have been in contact with both Banks and the victim at the time the victim was being sexually exploited.  As part of the federal investigation, agents found Lauro in possession of more than 1,000 images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation of other minors.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations with assistance from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, the Mechanicsburg Police Department, and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office in West Virginia.  Assistant United States Attorney Christian T. Haugsby prosecuted the case.

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.usdoj.gov/psc. 

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