Casseday received his sentence today before the Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Casseday pled guilty to the charges in November 2006, after being arrested by Metropolitan Police Department detectives on September 26, 2006, when he arranged to have sex with a 13-year-old girl who was actually an undercover police officer. Following his release from prison, Casseday will be on supervised release for 20 years, and will be required to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.

According to the evidence presented by the government in this case, on September 26, 2006, the defendant used a laptop computer in his office at the Times building to enter an Internet chat room where he made contact with a 13-year-old girl, “Amanda.” “Amanda” was actually a Metropolitan Police Department Detective working as part of the Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to target on-line predators. During the on-line chat, Casseday sent a photograph of himself, and images of his genitalia to the fictitious child. The undercover officer forwarded to Casseday a photograph of a young girl as a photograph of “Amanda.” Casseday arranged with her to have sex at her home and drove to the location where she stated that she lived.

When Casseday arrived in the area, detectives recognized him from the photograph that he sent on-line to the undercover detective and placed him under arrest. A search of the laptop used in the internet conversations revealed that Casseday had saved the text of his conversation with the undercover officer, as well as the photograph of “Amanda.” During an inventory of his office by Washington Times staff, a compact disk labeled “RC Personal” was discovered in Casseday’s desk. The disk contained images of child pornography. Cassedy was terminated from the Washington Times within a week of his arrest.

In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised Detectives Timothy Palchak, Miguel Miranda and Jonathan Andrews of the Metropolitan Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Jeff Burnside for their outstanding work. He also thanked Washington Times Facilities Director Mark Frankowski for his assistance and cooperation in the investigation of this case. Lastly, Mr. Taylor recognized Legal Assistant Lakeisha Brent and Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Stewart who prosecuted the case.