Odenton Man Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

BALTIMORE—Paul Mark Karpa, age 53, of Odenton, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to possessing between 150 and 300 images of child pornography.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the plea agreement, Karpa used a laptop provided to him by his employer, a local Baltimore financial firm, to view and possess child pornography while at his residence. On January 6, 2010, Karpa’s employer was notified of a virus alert coming from a company laptop used by Karpa. A remote inspection of the laptop revealed directory names that referred to child pornography. On January 8, Karpa’s employer took possession of the laptop and found images of child pornography.

On March 26, 2010, Karpa’s employer noted that a virus alert was coming from a new laptop assigned to Karpa, who at the time was on a business trip to Colorado. On April 9, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Karpa’s residence and office and recovered approximately 100 videos and other images of child pornography. A number of these videos depicted pre-pubescent children.

As part of his plea agreement, Karpa must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

As part of the plea agreement, Karpa and the government have agreed that if the Court accepts the plea agreement Karpa will be sentenced to 41 months in prison. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett has scheduled sentencing for August 18, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.

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. Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI for its work in the investigation and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys P. Michael Cunningham and Bonnie S. Greenberg, who are prosecuting the case.