Robert M. Carey, age 52, of Bowie, Maryland was sentenced today to 15 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release for producing and possessing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus also ordered Carey to pay more than $50,000 in restitution to a family victim.

Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “Every photograph of child pornography is evidence of a crime.  This case demonstrates both the scope and the severity of the harm caused by online child pornography.  The defendant not only downloaded more than one million pictures of abused children, he also sexually abused a child and took his own pictures.”        

Carey is the third federal fugitive and the second child molester brought to justice in Maryland this year after being featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted.”  Thomas Evered was sentenced on January 27, 2006, to serve 10 years in prison for producing child pornography.  Kendall Charles Alexander was sentenced on April 21, 2006, to serve 27 years in prison for armed bank robbery.  Mr. Rosenstein said, “I am grateful to ‘America’s Most Wanted’ for helping to bring so many fugitives to justice and protect other people from becoming victims.”

According to the statement of facts presented to the court at Carey’s guilty plea on May 19, 2006, Carey was employed at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 1974.  Carey used government computers at his office and home to access child pornography over the Internet. In August 2005, federal law enforcement agents searched Carey’s NOAA office and residence, and recovered more than 1,000,000 images of prepubescent girls and girls in their early teens in erotic or sexually graphic poses, which were contained in photo albums, DVDs, CD ROMs and on the computers.  Carey admitted to downloading child pornography for approximately 10 years at work. 

Among the images recovered during the execution of the search warrant at his residence were images of a family member taken when the minor female was between 8 and 13 years old.  Many of these images were sexually explicit, and included  photographs taken at Carey’s NOAA office.  These images also included photographs of sexual acts between Carey and the minor.

Carey fled the United States after his December 21, 2005 indictment.  He was featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted” on January 21, 2006.  Carey was arrested on January 24, 2006, after turning himself in to U.S. officials in Rome, Italy.  He has remained in custody since that time.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General for its investigative work.  Mr. Rosenstein also praised Assistant United States Attorney David I. Salem, who prosecuted the case.