Press Release
DEFENDANT HELD WITHOUT BAIL ON CHARGE OF POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
February 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today that Mark Joseph Harvey of Boynton Beach, Florida made an initial appearance on February 4, 2009 to answer a charge of possession of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(4)(B).
Harvey faces a possible sentence of up to ten years’ imprisonment, to be followed by a minimum of five years’ supervised release, up to a maximum of lifetime supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. Following a detention hearing, Magistrate Judge Hopkins ordered that Harvey be detained without bail until trial. An arraignment is scheduled before the West Palm Beach Duty Magistrate Judge at 10:00 a.m., February 20, 2009.
The Criminal Complaint states that in November and December 2008, Harvey engaged in the distribution of child pornography with an undercover agent with the FBI’s Innocent Images Unit in Maryland. The undercover agent in Maryland obtained from Harvey more than 200 files containing child pornography. Through the subpoena process, the agent was able to determine the possible identity of the source of the images and a possible location in Boynton Beach, Florida. The matter was further investigated by the Miami Division of the FBI in conjunction with the Boynton Beach Police Department.
On February 4, 2009, a search warrant was executed by FBI and Boynton Beach Police Department agents at Harvey’s home. A laptop computer and an external hard drive were found under Harvey’s bed. Harvey, who was present during the execution of the search warrant, confessed to downloading and distributing child pornography and estimated that he had thousands of images and videos in his child pornography collection. Harvey’s computer equipment is being forensically examined by the Computer Crimes Unit of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Anyone with any information related to Harvey is encouraged to contact the FBI or Detective Toby Athol of the Boynton Beach Police Department’s Special Victims Unit at 561-742-6152.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
U.S. Attorney Acosta commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Boynton Beach Police Department, and the Computer Crimes Division of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office for their joint efforts in this case. This case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Marie Villafana.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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