Greenbelt, Maryland – A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Moshe Michael Imel, age 51, of Owings, Maryland, with five counts of production of child pornography involving two minor victims. The indictment was returned yesterday. Imel will have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt at a later date. Imel remains detained on separate State charges.
The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge James R. Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans; and Calvert County State’s Attorney Robert Harvey.
According to the five-count indictment, during two months in 2018, Imel persuaded, enticed and coerced Victim A to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce images documenting the sexually explicit conduct. Similarly, the indictment alleges that on three occasions during one month in 2020, Imel enticed and coerced Victim B to engage in sexually explicit conduct in order to produce images documenting the sexually explicit conduct of Victim B.
Law enforcement believes there may be other victims. Please report suspected sexual abuse to HSI’s tip line at 866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
If convicted, Imel faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison for each of the five counts of production of child pornography. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
This case was brought as 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 www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the HSI, the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, and the Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph R. Baldwin and Kristi N. O’Malley, who are prosecuting the federal case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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