Pennsylvania man sentenced to 121 months in prison for producing child pornography

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania man was sentenced Thursday to 121 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release for production of child pornography. The sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The Pennsylvania State Police Computer Crimes Unit assisted in the investigation.

The HSI investigation revealed that Robert Lee Raeder, 45, of Tamaqua, produced child pornography videos and images and then maintained them on his computer. A forensic examination of Raeder's computer revealed the images and videos. The victims were also identified.

"Child predators like Raeder are on notice: HSI will not allow you to systematically prey on our nation's children," said John Kelleghan, special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. "As today's sentence demonstrates, crimes against our children are serious crimes with serious consequences. HSI and our law enforcement partners will bring child predators to justice."

Raeder was arrested April 2 and pleaded guilty to the charge May 7. The criminal offenses occurred between January 2001 and December 2012.

Raeder is in custody and still faces pending state charges.

This investigation was also part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.