Former Baltimore County Correctional Officer Sentenced To Over 33 Years In Federal Prison For Production Of Child Pornography
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A former Baltimore County correctional officer was sentenced Friday to more than 33 years in federal prison for two counts of production of child pornography.
Thomas Michael Mannion, Jr., 46, of Parkville, was sentenced to 400 months in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for two counts of production of child pornography.
Mannion previously admitted to engaging in sexually explicit conduct with two minor victims.
According to his guilty plea, Mannion, who was a Baltimore County correctional officer at the time, rented the basement apartment of a townhome in Parkville where he lived alone.
On May 6, 2019, Baltimore County Police were called to a residence after a neighbor had seen Mannion in bed naked with Minor Victim 1, who was also unclothed.
When police arrived, they located the minor victim, who was 13-years-old at the time, in the basement bedroom area, according to court documents.
Investigation revealed that Mannion had met the victim a few months before on a social networking application.
Mannion had initially met Minor Victim 1 on March 9, 2019, and brought him to his apartment, where they engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Mannion took photos and videos of Minor Victim 1 during the sexual encounter, according to his guilty plea.
As detailed in the plea agreement, Mannion also communicated with Minor Victim 2, a 14-year-old male, through the social networking application. Mannion admitted that on April 17, 2019, he went to the home of Minor Victim 2, where he engaged in sexual activity with the victim and took photographs and videos documenting the sexual contact.
According to his plea agreement, Mannion also distributed the sexually explicit images of both Minor Victim 1 and Minor Victim 2 to others.
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.