A Cumberland man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting two minors. District Chief Judge George Levi Russell, III, handed down the sentence to Christopher Lawrence Stouffer, age 39, of Cumberland, Maryland. In addition to his prison term, Stouffer will be subject to lifetime supervised release and must register as a sex offender for life.
The sentencing was announced by Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland; Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office; James Elliott, State’s Attorney for Allegany County; and Chief John C. Ralston, Jr., Frostburg State University Police.
According to court documents, Stouffer used his cellular phone over several months to produce explicit videos involving one minor victim beginning when she was nine years old. He also installed a covert camera in a bathroom and captured explicit images of another minor who was fourteen years old. The files were downloaded onto a hard drive where he kept at least 800 video files that included depictions of infants and toddlers.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse across the United States. The program brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate offenders and rescue victims (https://www.justice.gov/psc). More information about Internet safety education can be found on the same site under the “Resources” tab.
Kelly O. Hayes commended both the FBI and Frostburg State University Police for their roles in investigating this case. She also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colleen E. McGuinn and Spencer L. Todd for prosecuting it.
Further details about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office—including its priorities and community resources—are available online (https://www.justice.gov/usao-md) as well as through its community outreach page (https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach).
