Massachusetts Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

WASHINGTON—George H. Lunt, 26, formerly of Plymouth, Mass., pleaded guilty today to two counts of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen M. Ortiz, and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Office.

Lunt pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. in Boston. Lunt was indicted on May 26, 2010. In pleading guilty, Lunt admitted to possessing thousands of images and videos of child pornography that included depictions of prepubescent children and toddlers and sadistic conduct. Lunt admitted to distributing child pornography through online peer-to-peer file-sharing software. This case arose from an FBI investigation of individuals sharing and trading child pornography over the Internet.

Lunt is scheduled to be sentenced on June 21, 2011. Lunt faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and restitution if appropriate.

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 U.S. 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 projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case against Lunt was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael I. Yoon of the District of Massachusetts and CEOS Trial Attorney Bonnie L. Kane of the Criminal Division. The case was investigated by the FBI.