Essex man sentenced to 50 years on child pornography charges

A 39-year-old Essex man was sentenced Thursday to 50 years in federal prison for creating and distributing child pornography, and was ordered to be supervised and registered as a sex offender upon his release, prosecutors said.

Foster William Dove III sent a video of minors "engaging in sexually explicit conduct" to an undercover officer using a file sharing program in August 2013, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland said.

Authorities served a search warrant at Dove's home and found evidence that he had sexually abused two minor boys and had secretly videotaped about 17 others with a hidden camera in his bathroom, prosecutors said.

When detectives walked up to his house in the 1600 block of Williams Ave. to arrest him in September 2013, Dove ran to his car and struck two police vehicles while fleeing, according to police reports. His car was recovered nearby, but ran away and was arrested the following week at a Pennsylvania motel.

Dove has been detained since his arrest, prosecutors said. A federal public defender who represented him in court could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday night.

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