A 29-year-old Rockville man pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt to distributing child pornography, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office and the FBI.
Romeo Joseph Hillman possessed at least 12,765 images and 600 videos of child pornography when he was arrested last year, according to the federal government.
According to Hillman’s plea agreement, in October 2014 an undercover FBI officer downloaded 82 image and video files depicting children from ages 3 to 13 engaged in sexual acts from an internet provider address registered with Hillman’s home.
Federal authorities executed a search warrant at Hillman’s home on Feb. 11, 2015, and said they found at least 12,765 images and 600 videos of child pornography, including the images and videos previously downloaded by the undercover FBI officer.
The U.S. District Attorney’s office said in a press release that at least 125 of the files depicted children previously identified as victims of child pornography by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The FBI said the forensic analysis also revealed Hillman had a file-sharing program on his computer to share the files and that he used Skype to exchange messages and files containing the child pornography.
As a result of the plea agreement, Hillman now faces between eight and 12 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for April 20 in front of U.S. District Judge George Hazel.
