Enticed at Least 10 Underage Boys to Produce Sexually
Explicit Images and Videos. Sexually Abused One Victim, in Exchange for Cash
and Marijuana.
Greenbelt, Maryland – U.S. District Court Judge Paul W.
Grimm sentenced Spencer E. Steckman, 36, a Navy employee formerly of Silver
Spring, Maryland, today to 40 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime
supervised release, for the production, transportation, and possession of child
pornography. Judge Grimm also ordered
that Steckman pay restitution of $120,000 to the victims, and that Steckman
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 Robert K. Hur; Assistant Attorney General Brian A.
Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and Special Agent in
Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office.
Steckman pleaded guilty on June 11, 2019, to one count of
production of child pornography, one count of transportation of child
pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to his plea agreement and other court documents,
Steckman enticed at least 10 preteen and teenage boys to engage in sexually
explicit conduct, record it and send it to him.
He employed a variety of tactics, including misrepresenting his
identity, offering money and video game redemption codes, and encouraging the
children to compete with others to produce and send the “best” photos. Steckman also admitted that he gave one of
the victims cash and marijuana to engage in sexual activity with him. After years of this conduct, Steckman moved
to Japan in mid-November 2017, where he worked with Commander Navy Region
Japan, and transported and possessed the child pornography.
Further investigation revealed that Steckman had shared his
child pornography, including images sent to him by the victims, with
like-minded offenders, and that he stored most of his child pornography
collection on an encrypted device.
Steckman was detained by the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service (NCIS) in Japan on March 27, 2018, and transported back to Maryland by
the United States Marshals Service to appear before the U.S. District Court for
the District of Maryland. He has
remained in custody since that time.
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 Robert K. Hur and Assistant Attorney
General Brian A. Benczkowski commended the FBI’s Baltimore Field Division and
the Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff’s Office who investigated the case, with
substantial assistance from NCIS. Mr.
Hur and Mr. Benczkowski thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Baldwin and
Trial Attorney Jessica Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section (CEOS), who prosecuted the case.
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