Perry Point Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Receiving Child Pornography

From the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland:

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Mark Kahl, age 50, of Perry Point, Maryland, today to 15 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for receiving child pornography. Judge Blake ordered that upon his release from prison, Kahl must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Kahl has two previous convictions for sexually abusing children.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Secretary Gary D. Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services; and Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police.

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “I want to commend the job done by all the law enforcement officers involved in this case, but especially the officers of the Elkton Office of the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation. They not only brought Mr. Kahl to the attention of federal authorities, but they revoked his state parole to get this predator off the streets. He will now serve an additional 15 years in federal prison.”

According to his plea agreement, in 1989 Kahl was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court of the sexual abuse of young boys. In September 1997, Kahl was convicted in Calvert County Circuit Court of the sexual abuse of two young teenage boys and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Kahl was paroled in January 2011.

According to the statement of facts, on April 12, 2011, Kahl participated in a polygraph examination as part of the conditions of his parole and probation. During the polygraph and in a post-polygraph interview Kahl admitted that he had recently viewed child pornography. A subsequent forensic examination of Kahl’s computer revealed 10 images of young males displaying their genitals, which Kahl had downloaded from the internet on March 26 or 27, 2011. The forensic review also revealed that Kahl had conducted internet searches for child pornography.

As a result of this discovery, Kahl’s parole was revoked and he is currently serving the remaining seven years of his state sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. Details about Maryland’s program are available at www.justice.gov/usao/md/Safe-Childhood/index.html.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended ICE HSI, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, especially the Elkton Office of the Division of Parole and Probation, and the Maryland State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Unit for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristi N. O’Malley, who prosecuted the case.