HARRISBURG, Pa. — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Senior Judge Sylvia H. Rambo sentenced Michael Charles Clarke, 44, of York, Pennsylvania, to 600 months’ imprisonment for production, possession and transportation of child pornography, followed by 25 years of supervised release.
According to U.S. Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, this sentencing followed Clarke’s November 15, 2016, guilty plea to each of those charges, which stemmed from his sexual assault of a minor child from 2010 to 2015 on multiple occasions and included recording the abuse. Clarke was arrested by the Southwestern Regional Police Department on September 26, 2015, and charged with rape of a child and associated offenses. When Clarke’s home was searched, multiple computers, hard drives, thumb drives and cds were seized. The FBI forensically examined this evidence and discovered that Clarke had downloaded and saved child pornography images on a number of the devices. Further investigation revealed that in 2010, Clarke made recordings of another minor girl by using hidden cameras and then transported images of that child pornography across state lines, from Iowa to Pennsylvania.
At today’s sentencing proceeding, one of the victims, her mother and her brother presented heartfelt and moving statements to the Court conveying the extensive damage Clarke has caused in their lives. Members from the South Central Pennsylvania chapter of the Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) organization also attended the hearing to support the victim.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Southwestern Regional Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Meredith A. Taylor prosecuted the case.
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.
Source: United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Middle District of Pennsylvania
