Updated Wednesday: A Gaithersburg man indicted last week by a federal grand jury for possession and distribution of child pornography had a previous arrest in Montgomery County for sexually abusing a minor, authorities said.
Bruce Ralph Sturtz was arrested on Monday and held after an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury last month and the case was sealed until after he was taken into custody.
Sturtz will be released pending an inspection of his house to ensure that all internet-enabled devices are removed. He is required to have no contact with minors, no internet-capable devices in his home and 24/7 electronic monitoring.
If convicted of the federal charges, Sturtz, 73, faces up to 20 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for the possession charge and up to 40 years, with minimum of 15 years in prison for the distribution charge, according to a news release from federal prosecutors.
In March 2017, Sturtz allegedly distributed child pornography over the internet, and in October 2017 allegedly had child pornography, the prosecutors said.
Sturtz received a 10-year prison sentence in Montgomery County Circuit Court in January 2001 for a third-degree sexual offense, with all but 18 months of the sentence suspended, according to online court records.
He was also given five years of supervised probation following his release, and was required to pay $1,000 in restitution in February 2003.
Defense attorney information was not available.
