Former Legislator Pleads Guilty In Child Porn Case

BALTIMORE -- Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of more three years for a former state delegate who pleaded guilty Friday to one count of possessing child pornography.

David Collins Reports

Republican Robert A. McKee, 59, of Washington County will be sentenced Nov. 21 for the offense, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie S. Greenberg said the government will ask for a prison term of 37 to 41 months followed by supervised release for the rest of his life.

As a condition of his plea, McKee must register as a sex offender.

McKee and his lawyer, Timothy F. Maloney, declined to comment after the 30-minute hearing before U.S. District Judge William D. Quarles Jr. in Baltimore.

McKee spoke during the hearing only in response to the judge's questions. When asked how he would plead to the charge, he answered, "Guilty, your honor, guilty."

According to an agreed-upon statement of facts read aloud by Greenberg, Washington County sheriff's deputies searched McKee's house in Halfway, an unincorporated community near Hagerstown, on Jan. 31 after a resident of the home told them she had found child pornography there. The unidentified female also gave deputies several pages of computer printouts to support her claim, Greenberg said.

The search yielded somewhere between 10 and 150 images, some of which were identified as having come from outside Maryland and depicting known victims of child porn, Greenberg said. The images included pictures of prepubescent children, she said.

She said McKee had obtained the images from mail-order services and World Wide Web sites with names including "Johnny Proudly Presents" and "virginxboys."

U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said in a written statement after the hearing that McKee acknowledged he had obtained child pornography as early as 2004.

Rosenstein said McKee's journals document that he simultaneously printed images of child pornography from the Internet and printed stories describing sexual acts between young boys and other young boys or adult men. The journals indicate that McKee looked at the pictures while reading the stories, Rosenstein said.

Rosenstein thanked Washington County authorities for their role in the investigation.

"Federal and state law enforcement officials are working together in Maryland to combat sexual exploitation of children," he said.

McKee is on home detention with electronic monitoring until his sentencing. Maloney asked that he be allowed to attend Sunday church services and to visit his ailing, 85-year-old mother, who lives a half-mile away. Quarles didn't object to the conditions, but said those matters would be decided by the court's pretrial services division.

McKee was chairman of the General Assembly's western Maryland delegation when he resigned Feb. 15 after the investigation was made public. He had served 13 years in the House of Delegates.

He also resigned as executive director of the local Big Brothers and Big Sisters after 29 years with that organization.

McKee is not married but has an "adopted granddaughter," Delegate LeRoy Myers, R-Washington, said in February. The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail reported in 2006 that McKee was the legal guardian of a 16-year-old girl.

In his Feb. 15 written statement announcing his resignation, McKee said he had "entered treatment." When asked by the judge on Friday about any mental health problems, Maloney said that "since the event, he's had some care."

Andrew Serafini, a financial adviser from the Hagerstown area, was chosen by Washington County Republicans and approved by Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley in March to serve the remainder of McKee's term, which ends in 2010.