Sex Offender Faces 10 Years In Federal Prison For Accessing With Intent To View Child Porn
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- An Edgewater man who is a convicted sex offender pleaded guilty Friday to accessing with intent to view child pornography, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Erek Barron's office.
William Carl Eikenberg, 51, previously pleaded in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court in August 2016 to distributing child pornography, according to the statement. He admitted he used BitTorrent through a personal cell phone to download and trade child pornography and was required to register as a sex offender. BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing network that enables users to distribute electronic files over the internet.
According to his plea Friday, Eikenberg between April 2017 and September 2017 knowingly possessed and accessed with intent to view child pornography, including content depicting the exploitation of prepubescent minors being used to engage in sexual conduct. This included at least 94 video files and 80 images of child pornography. He admitted he knew the production of the depictions involved minors engaged in sexual activity, according to the statement.
On July 3, 2017 and Sept. 3, 2017, a detective with the Anne Arundel County Police Department identified several electronic files of child pornography being shared to an IP address assigned to Eikenberg's home. The files included a 21-minute video featuring a minor female engaged in sexual activity with a man and several other shorter videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors, according to the statement.
Police learned a couple days later Eikenberg stopped attended sex offender treatment and fled from his supervised probation, according to the statement. When police and his probation officer approached his home during a visit on Sept. 22, 2017, Eikenberg ran out the back door and tried to escape officers, but was later arrested.
Eikenberg faces at least 10 years in federal prison during his sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 20.