40-year-old Maryland man sentenced for sexual exploitation of children to produce child pornography
BALTIMORE - A 40-year-old man was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of children to produce child pornography.
According to court documents, Dennis James Harrison exploited minors between the ages of 10 and 12 years old.
Harrison, from Rocky Ridge, Maryland, was sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release after his 45-year sentence.
Harrison also had a conviction from August 12, 2009, in Adams County, Pennsylvania, for possession of child pornography and was a registered sex offender at the time of his arrest in this federal case, according to court records.
According to his guilty plea, between 2018 and 2021, Harrison sexually exploited two minor girls beginning when the one victim was 12 years old and when the other victim was 10 to 11 years old, to produce child pornography.
Documents said that from at least September 2020 through August 2021, Harrison engaged in sexual activity with Jane Doe 1, a 12-year-old girl who resided in Pennsylvania.
Harrison picked up Jane Doe 1 from her residence and drove her to various locations in Maryland, including Harrison's homes, where he engaged in illegal sexual activity with Jane Doe 1.
Documents revealed Harrison produced images and videos of his sexual abuse of Jane Doe 1 and enticed Jane Doe 1 to send him sexually explicit photographs of herself.
As detailed in his plea agreement, Harrison also used a hidden camera and a mobile phone in 2018 to produce a series of images depicting Jane Doe 2, a 10-to-11-year-old girl, nude and partially nude in a bedroom and bathroom in Pennsylvania and in a bathroom in Maryland. The images were taken without the knowledge of Jane Doe 2.
On August 12, 2021, investigators executed a search warrant at Harrison's home and recovered a cellphone used by Harrison to film his sexual abuse of Jane Doe 1, as well as several digital devices.
A forensic examination of all the devices located files depicting the sexual abuse of children on each one, including depictions of infants and toddlers.
In total, over 14,000 files of child pornography were found on Harrison's devices.