Ellicott City Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Child Porn Charges

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — A 44-year-old Ellicott City man has pleaded guilty to a federal charge for attempted possession of child pornography. Mark Franklin admitted that he attempted to entice a minor into engaging in sexual activity in order to obtain photos.

WJZ reports that according to Franklin's guilty plea, between Sept. 7 and Oct. 10, 2018, Franklin used online applications to attempt to induce an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexually explicit activity and send him photos of the sexual conduct. However, Franklin was communicating with an undercover FBI Special Agent.

According to his plea agreement shared by WJZ, Franklin engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the minor female, sent her sexually explicit photographs of himself and requested that she send him sexually explicit photographs of herself. During the duration of their conversations, Franklin also discussed meeting in person with the minor female to engage in sex acts and described the photographs he wished to take during their sexual encounter.

Then on Oct. 10, 2018, Franklin traveled from Ellicott City to Frederick, Md., to meet and engage in sex acts with the 13-year-old girl. When Franklin arrived at the agreed-upon location, he was arrested by officers involved in the case. At the time of his arrest, Franklin was in possession of a teddy bear requested by the 13-year-old girl, condoms, two blankets and a towel, WJZ reported. Franklin faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.