Calvert County man pleads guilty to producing child pornography

[RalR]

A Solomons man pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to producing child pornography following an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

According to his plea agreement, Blakenship became friends with a teenage girl on Facebook in January 2011. They exchanged text messages and by March 2011, Blankenship asked the girl for a nude photo of herself, the press release states. The girl sent Blakenship a nude photo she took on her cellphone.

Blankenship sent a text message July 4, 2011, to the girl demanding 10 nude pictures, according to the press release, and said that if she did not produce and send the pictures, she would go to jail because she had sent an illegal image on her cellphone.

http://m.somdnews.com/sommdnews/pm_1...tguid=oIb6xtVU

[Spot72]

This was a federal case.

[RalR]

Blakenship and the government have agreed that if the court accepts the plea agreement Blakenship will be sentenced to 12 years in prison at his March 15 sentencing before U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus.

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 and information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/130...4greenbelt.htm

[Spot72]

Good Job ICE, predators who prey on innocent children deserve no sympathy.
Maybe, he had a mental issue.

[demopublican]

I would be ok with the death penalty for child molesters.

[funkateer]

Am I the only one at a loss as to how the second demand—the one for 10 more nude pics, or the girl will go to jail—could have possibly scared anyone into doing as he said? How on earth would the police have found out about it, if she refused....was HE going to confess, so as to also get the girl punishedl??? It's just ridiculous. It was a massive, totally illogical bluff....even if he did somehow "report" her for sending "illegal images" over her cellphone (of herself, remember!), were the police going to actually overlook HIS role in this? Of course not, anybody with a working brain would runderstand that, rightly, he'd be considered the culprit in it, she'd be considered the victim and probably wouldn't receive any punishment at all (certainly not jailtime)! It's just a shame that the people being preyed upon are so naive and so easily pressured into doing what these sickos want....part of it is that they are young, of course, but if parents would just teach some basic things to their kids, the kids would know not to believe things such as this....very sad.