HARRISBURG — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.
HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Kerry Edward Tropasso, age 36, formerly of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced on December 5, 2017, to 15 years’ imprisonment followed by 15 years’ supervised release by United States District Court Judge William W. Caldwell for production of child pornography and coercing and enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, Tropasso was involved in an online relationship with a minor where he video recorded the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and then uploaded digital images to a commercial printing service. Tropasso also possessed thousands of images and hundreds of videos of suspected or previously identified child pornography, depicting children in chains being raped by adults. The images included children as young as five years old.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
This case was investigated jointly by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Pennsylvania State Police, with assistance by the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Daryl Bloom prosecuted the case.
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