Scranton Man Indicted for Child Pornography Offenses

February 17, 2010 - Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment today charging a Scranton man with receiving and possessing child pornography.

Pfannenschmidt stated that Robert Ward, age 42, is charged with committing the offenses between April 2006 and April 8, 2008. Ward’s charges stem from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Scranton Police.

Pfannenschmidt stated that Ward faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of the charges.

Pfannenschmidt noted that this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Pfannenschmidt noted that Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.

An Indictment or Information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the Grand Jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged Defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.