Former Montgomery County Music Teacher Sentenced To More Than 4 Years In Federal Prison For Possession Of Child Pornography
GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) -- A former Montgomery County music teacher was sentenced Friday to more than four years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
Charles Victor Kopfstein-Penk, 75, of Bethesda, was sentenced to 54 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
As part of his plea agreement, Kopfstein-Penk was ordered to pay $144,000 in restitution to 35 victims.
Kopfstein-Penk, a music teacher who gave lessons out of his home, pleaded guilty to the federal charge on February 10, 2020.
As detailed in the plea agreement, on May 21, 2019, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Kopfstein-Penk's residence.
Kopfstein-Penk was present and agreed to speak to officers at the scene. He admitted to using file-sharing software for approximately 10 years to download child pornography from the Internet and said that he had been collecting child pornography files for over 20 years.
An on-scene preview of a computer located in Kopfstein-Penk's office revealed over 400,000 files of suspected child pornography.
Kopfstein-Penk directed law enforcement to five external hard drives that he also used to store child pornography.
An analysis of the computer and external storage media revealed that Kopfstein-Penk possessed over 1,126,000 images and over 6,800 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.