United States Attorney’s Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2008

Channing Phillips (202) 514-6933
Web Address: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae

New Jersey Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Distribution
of Child Pornography and Attempted Enticement of a Minor

Washington, D.C. - A 29-year-old East Windsor, New Jersey man, Edward Kline, was sentenced today before the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to nine years in prison and lifetime supervised release following his earlier guilty plea to one count of Distribution of Child Pornography and one count of Attempted Enticement of a Minor, announced U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor. Kline pled guilty to the charges on March 4, 2008. His conviction is the result of an undercover investigation conducted by the FBI/MPD’s District of Columbia Innocent Images Task Force.

According to the Statement of Offense filed with the court by the government, on November 28, 2007, a cooperating witness ("CW") working in an undercover capacity under the supervision of law enforcement agents while located in the District of Columbia, went on-line and was contacted by an individual CW knew as “Edward,” subsequently identified as the defendant, Edward Kline, with the screen name of “Pique2uX.” The CW had met Edward on prior occasions and knew him to have a sexual interest in male children and to collect child pornography. During the on-line conversation, the defendant inquired about having sex with an underage boy. The CW told the defendant that he could arrange for a 13-year-old boy with whom the defendant could have sex. During the course of the on-line conversation, the defendant told the CW about an 11-year-old boy with whom he had sex. He also sent the CW several videos depicting adult males engaged in sexual acts with prepubescent boys.

The CW and the defendant then arranged for the defendant to come to the CW’s residence on Friday, November 30, 2007, for the purpose of engaging in sex acts with the child, and the defendant confirmed that he would bring his video camera so he could film the sexual activity.

On November 30, 2007, the CW and the defendant exchanged messages via text messaging on their cellular telephones. The defendant asked for a picture of the child, and the CW forwarded to the defendant’s cellular telephone a photograph of a thirteen-year-old boy; the photograph was of a clothed child. At approximately 5:50 p.m., the defendant went to the CW’s residence located in the 1300 block of U Street, NW, Washington, D.C., knocked on the door, and was allowed inside by law enforcement officers who then placed him under arrest.

In the search incident to the arrest of the defendant, the officers recovered, among other items, a video recorder with a tape in it. The tape recovered from the defendant contained a video of two prepubescent males approximately eight- and thirteen-years-old engaging in masturbation while they were being filmed by the defendant, who also appeared in the video. The rest of the tape was not yet used.

Later that evening, members of the Metropolitan Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a federal search warrant at the defendant’s Washington, D.C. apartment and recovered additional items, to include three hard drives, routers, a computer, and several DVDs, CDs, video tapes, and magazines. The items recovered contained in excess of 600 images of child pornography. The ages of the children appeared to range from approximately three years old to young teens and included sadistic conduct and violence involving young children. Among the images described above was another movie in which the defendant is depicted receiving oral sex from a prepubescent male who appears to be approximately thirteen years old.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood and the Regional Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the quick action and investigative work of a joint task force consisting of Metropolitan Police Department Detectives Timothy Palchak, Jonathan Andrews, Morani Hines, Miguel Miranda, and Lieutenant Patricia Williams, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agents Scott Schelbe, Michael French, David Solis, Jill Blackman, Daniel Bradley, Chadwick Elegersma, and Chad Gallagher.

Finally, Mr. Taylor commended Latoya Wade and Jeannette Fennell, who provided paralegal support, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jean Sexton, who prosecuted this case.