SAN JOSE – LAWFUEL – The Law Newswire – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced that Edward Aaron Harvey, Jr. pleaded guilty Monday, April 16, 2007 to advertisement of child pornography, transportation and attempted transportation of any visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct; and possession of matters containing any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct. This guilty plea is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In pleading guilty, Mr. Harvey admitted to the following facts. From in or about October of 2003 through on or about September 2, 2004, Mr. Harvey knowingly and intentionally posted on the Internet, a child pornography website that advertised material containing obscene visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The website contained thousands of images of prepubescent boys and girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct with each other and with adults. He had obtained these images by getting them off of other child pornography website on the Internet. He had created this child pornography website to make money. He used Paypal to collect payments for subscriptions to his website. His customers included individuals from the Northern District of California and other states, as well as from other countries. After receiving payments from customers, Mr. Harvey emailed them the username, passwords, and link to get into the child pornography website.
Furthermore, Mr. Harvey admitted that one of his customers, a resident of San Jose, CA, paid to subscribe to his child pornography website for the 30-day period of November 8, 2003 to December 8, 2003. After receiving his payment over the Internet, Mr. Harvey emailed that customer the username and passwords to access the child pornography website and to unzip the files containing images of child pornography. Subsequently, that customer did access Mr. Harvey’s child pornography website and downloaded visual images of minors engaging in sexually explicit activity from that website to the customer’s home computer in San Jose, CA. Mr. Harvey admitted that by his actions in creating a child pornography website, soliciting people to join the website, collecting payments for subscriptions to the site, and providing paying customers with usernames and passwords to gain access to site, he attempted to transport and did in fact transport visual depictions of minors engaging in sexual conduct across state lines by means of computer.
Finally, Mr. Harvey also admitted that on September 2, 2004, he knowingly possessed on his home computer, matters which he knew contained visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Those images of child pornography, which he had obtained from other websites on the Internet, had been transported in interstate or foreign commerce prior to coming into his possession in Canton, Michigan. He possessed those images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct with the intent of posting them on his website for distribution to customers who had paid to subscribe to his child pornography website. Mr. Harvey waived venue in pleading to the possession charge in San Jose, CA.
Mr. Harvey, 37 of Canton, Michigan, was charged by a Superseding Information with three counts: Advertisement of Child Pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(3)(B)(i); Transportation and Attempted Transportation of Any Visual Depiction of a Minor Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(1); and Possession of Matters Containing Any Visual Depiction Of a Minor Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct, in violation of18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4). Under the plea agreement, Mr. Harvey pled guilty to all three counts.
Mr. Harvey is currently out of custody on a $50,000 bond. The sentencing of Mr. Harvey is scheduled for August 20, 2007 before Judge Whyte in San Jose. Count One, charging Advertisement of Child Pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(3)(B)(i), carries mandatory minimum prison sentence of 5 years, and maximum penalties of 20 years of prison, 3 years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, a $100 mandatory special assessment, and registration as sex offender under18 U.S.C. §§ 2250 & 4042(c). Count Two, charging Transportation and Attempted Transportation of Any Visual Depiction of a Minor Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(1), carries mandatory minimum prison sentence of 5 years, and maximum penalties of 20 years of prison, 3 years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, a $100 mandatory special assessment, and registration as sex offender under18 U.S.C. §§ 2250 & 4042(c). Count Three, charging Possession of Matters Containing Any Visual Depiction Of a Minor Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct, in violation of18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4), carries maximum penalties of 10 years of prison, 3 years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, a $100 mandatory special assessment, and registration as sex offender under18 U.S.C. §§ 2250 & 4042(c). However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Shawna Yen is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Legal Technician Tracey Andersen. The prosecution is the result of a two and a half year investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Further Information:
Case #: 05-00373 RMW
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov.
