TSA Employee Sentenced to Prison for Possessing Child Pornography

BALTIMORE—U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Michael Scott Wilson, age 42, of Perry Hall, Maryland, today to two years in prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for possessing child pornography. Judge Blake ordered that upon his release from prison, Wilson must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he 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; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Special Agent in Charge Stephen E. Vogt of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to the plea agreement, Wilson is an employee of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Baltimore Washington International Airport. On September 12, 2011, a Baltimore County Police detective connected to a file sharing network and downloaded a file containing child pornography from Wilson, who was sharing files over the network. On September 27, 2011, members of the Baltimore County Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit executed a search warrant at Wilson’s residence and seized computers and digital media, as well as CDs from a locked safe. A forensic examination of the computers and media revealed approximately 260 images of child pornography, including videos of prepubescent females engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults. Several of the images documented the sexual abuse of minor females by adult males.

At the time of his arrest, Wilson was suspended without pay by TSA and has not worked for the agency since that time.

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 Attorneys’ 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the HSI Baltimore, FBI, and the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel M. Yasser, who prosecuted the case.