| PASADENA MAN SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF MINORS Baltimore, Maryland – A 39-year-old Pasadena, Maryland, man will serve more than a decade in prison in connection with child sexual exploitation charges. U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett sentenced Andrew Joseph Stilling, Jr., to 15 years in federal prison, followed by 30 years of supervised release. Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI – Baltimore Field Office; Anne Colt Leitess, State's Attorney for Anne Arundel County; Acting Superintendent Michael A. Jackson, Maryland State Police (MSP); and Chief Amal E. Awad, Anne Arundel County Police (AACOPD). According to the guilty plea, in September 2024, Stilling was part of an online group with other adults who were sexually interested in children. In the group, he discussed how he secretly recorded a minor while they showered. During the following three months, Stilling recorded videos of the minor. Stilling sent screenshots of the videos he created to others over the internet in the online group. Law enforcement subsequently arrested Stilling and found him in possession of child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, including at least one image depicting a prepubescent minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This case is 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 the United States Attorney's Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, visit justice.gov/psc and click on the "Resources" tab on the left of the page. U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes commended the FBI, MSP, AACOPD, and Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office, for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Victoria Liu and Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn who prosecuted the federal case. For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach. # # # |
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