DIRTBAG ROUNDUP: Three Maryland Attorneys Convicted of Child Pornography; Two Disbarred Thus Far

DIRTBAG ROUNDUP: Three Maryland Attorneys Convicted of Child Pornography

Baltimore City Prosecutor Patrick Moran sentenced to one year for distribution of child porn

TOWSON, MD. – A Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney charged with possession and distribution of child pornography in 2016 has now been sentenced to jail.

Patrick Michael Moran, 40, entered into a plea deal with Baltimore County States Attorney Scott Shellenberger on April 26, 2017, with a guilty plea by Moran entered on May 31, 2017.  The deal called for a sentence of ten years in prison with nine years suspended, leaving but one year in the local Baltimore County jail for Moran to serve.  Court records show that Moran was to report to the Baltimore County Detention Center on June 14, 2017, and to register as a Tier II Sex Offender. In addition to the jail time, Moran was ordered to be on supervised probation for a period of five years.

As of July 18, 2017, Moran has not yet appeared on the Sex Offender Registry as stipulated by the plea deal.

Moran pleaded guilty to the charge of promoting, distributing with the intent to possess child pornography at the same time he was assigned to Juvenile Court working for the Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby.

Two other counts of child pornography were dropped by Shellenberger as part of the plea deal with Moran’s attorney Andrew Alperstein.

Baltimore County Police reported that on July 12, 2016, Detectives with the Crimes Against Children Unit received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about Internet activity related to child pornography. The investigation into that tip led detectives to identify an address on Kilkenny Circle, Nottingham, Md., as a source of child pornography being shared on the Internet.

Police reported that on July 12, 2016, a search and seizure warrant was served at the Kilkenny Circle address. Items recovered during the search warrant service included numerous images and videos of child pornography as well as various items of computer equipment and digital storage devices. The computers and digital storage devices will undergo a detailed forensic examination by the Digital and Multi-Media Evidence Unit.

Detectives identified 39-year-old Patrick Michael Moran of the Kilkenny Circle address as the person responsible for the child pornography.

Moran was charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and released on $150,000 bail and was later indicted by a Baltimore County Grand Jury on Nov. 21, 2016.

The Baltimore County Crimes Against Children Unit is a member of the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  The Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force comprises police agencies from around the state. Its primary mission is to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. The Task Force works cooperatively with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources to combat these crimes. Additionally, the Task Force provides community awareness campaigns helping to prevent the spread of these crimes through education.

Baltimore Attorney Michael White Convicted of Possession of Child Porn and Disbarred

TOWSON, MD. — Maryland Sex Offender Registry records reflect that Michael Ledden White, of 17 Odeon Court, Parkville Md., is currently incarcerated for possession of child pornography.

White was charged in Baltimore County District Court on April 14, 2016, with three counts of possession and distribution of child pornography by Baltimore County Detective Christina Childs. The case was forwarded to Baltimore County Circuit Court which has not updated the disposition of the case in Maryland online records.

Maryland Attorney Grievance Commission records show that White was disbarred by consent on Aug. 19, 2016, for his criminal conduct involving child pornography.

District Lawyer Matthew Gigot Sentence of 18 Months Was All Suspended; Disbarred in Maryland for Child Pornography

WASHINGTON, D.C.

No jail time was the easy way a District Attorney ended up after being found guilty in District of Columbia of child sex felonies. His sentence of eighteen months in jail was all suspended.

Matthew Randall Gigot, a resident of Washington, D.C., was disbarred by consent in Maryland on January 26, 2016, for his criminal conviction in the District related to his possession or transmittal of the depiction of a sexual performance by a minor. There is no record of Gigot on D.C. or Virginia registries of disbarred attorneys.

Gigot is listed on the DC Sex Offender registry with a home address on S Street, in Northwest Washington with a work address at 19^th Street in the District.

Fox 5 reporter Emily Miller reported on June 29, 2015, that DC Police had arrested him and charged him with sexual performance with a minor. According to court documents, an undercover police officer communicated with Gigot on a website that is frequented by people who have a sexual interest in children and incest. The undercover police officer texted with Gigot through a phone app called Kik.

Fox 4 reported that Court documents show that Gigot texted the police officer that he wanted to have sexual relations with a 12-year-old boy. The cover story was that the boy’s father was organizing it.

He asked: “[h]ow young would you go…I’d do 5[,] [b]ut 0-12 is hot.”

During the planning, Gigot allegedly texted the officer a video of a naked pre-pubescent boy, who is about 8 years old and performing a sexual act. He also sent a photo of himself.

During the planning, Gigot allegedly texted the officer a video of a naked pre-pubescent boy, who is about 8 years old and performing a sexual act. He also sent a photo of himself.

The Kik texting service turned over logs affiliated with the user name pervyboy20 and a Gmail address. AT&T connected these messages to Gigot’s cell phone. Also, Comcast linked records to Gigot’s Northwest D.C. address.

Gigot, who is licensed to practice in Maryland, worked for LDiscovery, a legal services company based in McLean, Virginia. The company told Fox 5 that Gigot was a temporary employee of LDiscovery over the past year, but was currently not employed by them.

District of Columbia Court records shows that on May 9, 2016, D. C. Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan presided over the felony charges and with Gigot agreeing to plead guilty in a plea deal with prosecutors, sentenced Gigot to 18 months in jail with all of the jail time suspended.

Gigot was put on supervised probation for three years, required to register as a Sex Offender and seek sex offender treatment.

Gigot was represented by attorney Stuart Sears with Assistant United States Attorney Andrea Hertzfeld the prosecutor in the plea deal that didn’t land Gigot in jail for a single day. Judge Ryan was appointed to the bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush.