Crime & Safety
Silver Spring Man Sentenced to Five Years for Transporting Child Pornography
Confessed to transporting child pornography from Virginia office to his home.
A 39-year-old Silver Spring man has been sentenced to five years in prison, plus 10 years of supervised release, for transporting child pornography from his Virginia office to his home.
Nestor Gualteros was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, by Chief District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow. As part of a plea agreement, Gualteros admitted to belonging to groups on a social networking suspected of trafficking in child pornography.
Police began investigating the network in early 2009. According to police, Gualteros confessed during interviews in 2010 to distributing and receiving images, including some of prepubescent children, at his work computer in Herdon, Virginia. He also admitted to downloading child pornography images onto two flash drives hidden underneath his office desk drawer.
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Later in 2009, Gualteros transported his work computer to his residence in Silver Spring, where the activity continued and he "distributed over 900 images to 15 different groups on the social networking site," according to police.
After obtaining a search warrant, police seized Gualteros' digital media and found more than 1,400 "thumbnails" (previewed images) of child pornography. Police confiscated a flash drive containing more than 11,000 images and seven videos; and a second flash drive with more than 12,000 images. More than 800 additional images and three videos were found on his work computer, said police.
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Upon release from prison, Gualteros must register as a sex offender wherever he resides, is employed or is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The FBI and the Herndon Police Department were key players in the investigation.
The case was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide program of the U.S. Justice Department to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Under the program, federal, state, and local resources join foces to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and rescue victims.
