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Laurel Man Sentenced 9 Years In Federal Prison For Distributing Child Pornography

GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) — A 60-year-old man from Laurel was sentenced to nine years in federal prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release for distribution of child pornography.

The man, identified as Charles Bertsch, must also register as a sex offender, a judge ordered.

According to his plea agreement, FBI Task Force agents in Maryland began investigating him after various agencies downloaded child pornography via a file-sharing network from IP addresses that led back to Bertsch.

Bertsch acknowledged in an interview that by connecting his computer and downloading images, he was enabling others to download child pornography from his hard drive.

Police seized his electronic devices and found more than 99,000 image files and more than 2,000 video files of child pornography.

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