Montgomery County Man Sentenced for Possession of Child Pornography

CLARKSBURG, MD — A Clarksburg man who viewed child pornography online, and shared links with hundreds of porn images with others, will spend 10 years in prison.

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Robert Michael Busching, 26, of Clarksburg, to prison, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for possession of and access with intent to view child pornography.

Busching must also pay restitution of $5,000, to be divided by three victims whose sexual abuse was documented in some of the child pornography Busching possessed. Once he is released from prison, Busching must register as a sex offender.

According to a plea agreement, between Feb. 13, 2014, and Aug. 26, 2014, Busching used an internet-based cloud storage system to possess and view child pornography. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report from the cloud storage system about suspected files of child pornography being uploaded to one of their accounts. The account was being accessed from an IP address assigned to Busching’s residence.

FBI agents seized Busching’s computer during a search of his home on Sept. 9, 2014. He reportedly told agents someone in an online chat site gave him access cloud storage accounts containing more than 600 images of child pornography.

He then created two additional accounts, added videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct to both accounts, and shared links to the accounts he created with other people via the online chat site.

Busching will serve the federal sentence at the same time as the sentence imposed for violating his probation on a 2011 Maryland conviction for distribution of child pornography.