Child Porn, Dark Web Sex Chat Part Of Guilty Plea By Aspen Hill Man

ASPEN HILL, MD — A Montgomery County man has pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography, according to federal authorities. Kevin Heiting, 28, of Aspen Hill, pleaded guilty on Feb. 3 to the charge by federal investigators that thousands of users connected to one of Heiting’s laptop computers and downloaded pornographic files.

In May 2016, a search warrant executed at his residence in Silver Spring led to the seizure of five hard drives, two laptop computers, a tower computer, and a cellular telephone. Analysis of one of the hard drives unearthed more than 17,913 video files and 405,071 image files, many of which depicted children, including infants and toddlers, engaged in sexually explicit conduct. A file sharing program found on Heiting’s computer showed that he shared over 100,000 files between June 8, 2014 and January 6, 2015.

The same afternoon that the search warrant was executed, Hieting bought a new laptop computer, which he took with him on and August 2016 trip to Central America. During his travels, Heiting used the laptop to run a file sharing program and to conduct online chats with minors, authorities say.

When Heiting returned from Central America, the laptop was detained by customs officers and later examined. Investigators found that he had used it to communicate over the “dark web”, using an encrypted web chat application, with a 14-year-old boy. Enticed and persuaded by Heiting, the victim sent Heiting images of himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

On August 29, 2016, Heiting was indicted on federal child pornography charges and placed on pretrial release, with conditions which forbade him from possessing internet capable devices. On Feb. 1, 2017, law enforcement agents searched Heiting’s residence and recovered a laptop computer, two 5TB hard drives, and three USB thumb drives that had been hidden in an air purifier cabinet. A file sharing program and the encrypted deep web application that Heiting had previously used were found on the lapotop.

As part of his plea agreement, Heiting will be required to register as a sex offender.

Heiting and the government have agreed that if the court accepts the plea agreement, Heiting will be sentenced to between 13 and 19 years in prison. His sentencing is schedule for May 16; Heiting remains in custody awaiting sentencing.