Virginia Man Charged with Producing Child Pornography

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that an indictment charging a 31-year-old Falls Church, Virginia resident with producing and attempting to produce child pornography has been unsealed. The indictment was filed under seal on April 10, 2012.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the indictment alleges that Christopher Julich persuaded and enticed a minor in Lackawanna County to perform sexual acts on a webcam that were transmitted to Virginia.

The charge against Julich resulted from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Lackawanna County Detectives, and Fairfax County Police, Virginia.

Julich was arrested by federal agents in Virginia. He was arraigned on May 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Blewitt. Judge Blewitt ordered Julich to remain in prison pending trial. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Mariani scheduled trial for July 23, 2012.

If convicted of the charge, Julich faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. 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.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.

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An indictment and criminal information are not evidence of guilt but simply descriptions of the charge made by the United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proved the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.