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Westminster resident Justin Michael Peterson, 27, pleaded guilty this week after being busted with child porn while out on probation for a previous conviction in 2016 in Carroll County.
In February 2020, an investigation was launched into an individual using messaging apps and an email account to distribute child pornography over the Internet, leading police to identify Peterson as a suspect, prosecutors said.
On Feb. 27, 2020, a search warrant was executed at Peterson’s Maryland home and he was subsequently arrested nearby.
During the search, investigators seized Peterson’s cellphone, which revealed that he used social media, messaging apps, and Internet accounts to request, receive, and distribute child pornography, according to officials.
As part of his plea agreement, Peterson admitted that between Jan. 1, 2020, and Jan. 16, 2020, he also used social media and messaging accounts to produce sexually explicit videos and exchange approximately 1,244 messages with a 13-year-old boy.
Peterson then offered the videos for distribution in online discussion groups and messaging platforms dedicated to the distribution and production of child pornography.
He also admitted to distributing videos of child porn - including some images of the teen boy - to a second victim who was not named by the Department of Justice.
In some of those messages, officials said that Peterson also discussed traveling to the teen’s home to kidnap him, shared explicit images and videos with his second victim, some documenting the sexual abuse of children to users of a secure messaging application, including to an undercover investigator.
All of those messages were found during an examination of Peterson’s cellphone, which contained more than 600 images and videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including images and videos of adult males sexually abusing infants and toddlers.
Under the plea agreement, Peterson is expected to be sentenced to a term of between 25 and 35 years in federal prison. Upon his release, he has also been ordered to continue registering as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student.
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