Ex-Navy Worker Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Charges: DOJ

SILVER SPRING, MD — A former U.S. Navy employee who lived in Silver Spring before moving to Japan has pleaded guilty on Tuesday to child pornography charges.

Spencer E. Steckman, 35, was charged in March 2018 with one count of production of child pornography, one count of transportation of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He was detained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Japan that same month and shipped back to Maryland to appear in U.S. District Court.

Steckman has admitted to enticing multiple underage boys to produce sexually inappropriate content.

Between Aug. 17, 2017 and Sept. 22, 2017, prosecutors say Steckman persuaded a 13-year-old boy to take photographs of himself engaged in sexually explicit conduct and send them to him in exchange for money or PlayStation video game redemption codes. Between Sept. 24, 2017 and Dec. 4, 2017, Steckman enticed another 13-old-boy to send inappropriate photographs and videos of himself in exchange for an iPhone.

The Navy employee then moved to Japan for work in November of 2017 and took the child pornography with him, prosecutors said.

Investigators did more digging and eventually learned that eight other victims produced sexually explicit content for Steckman — dating back between 2008 to 2010, when he was living in California. The ages of the boys, according to the Justice Department, ranged from 12 to 17 years old.

Steckman has since pleaded guilty to producing, transporting, and possessing child pornography. If the court accepts his plea, he can face anywhere between 25 and 45 years in prison, WJZ reports.

Steckman is scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Nov. 7, 2019.