A Havre de Grace man, who pleaded guilty in June to interstate transport of child pornography, will spend 20 years in prison followed by a lifetime of supervision by the federal penal system.
U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Gary Scott Conway, 45, in Baltimore federal court Friday.
The Maryland U.S. Attorney's office noted in a news release that Conway is already a registered sex offender and has admitted "a 20-year history of sexually abusing at least eight minor victims, including infants and a severely autistic, non-verbal child."
Motz also ordered that upon his release from prison Conway must continue to register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Conway, who prosecutors said had fled Maryland in 2015 to avoid prosecution, pleaded guilty June 7 to the transporting child pornography charge.
According to court documents and testimony at Friday's sentencing hearing, Conway has 10 previous criminal convictions, including for sexual abuse of a minor and failing to register as a sex offender.
One of those convictions was from 2004 in Harford County, for a third-degree sex offense involving a 15-year-old, according to court records, but all of the 10-year-prison sentence was initially suspended. In 2006 Conway pleaded guilty to a motor vehicle unlawful use charge and received an 18-month sentence that also triggered a violation of probation on the 2004 conviction, according to court records. In October 2008 he received a five-year prison term for the probation violation.
Federal prosecutors said Conway's collection of child pornography numbered over 3,100 images and 319 videos, which Conway collected on the Internet.
According to the statement of facts in his plea agreement, from October 2014 to July 2015, Conway used an Internet chat website to communicate with adults and minor children. Conway admitted that during live video chats on the website, he directed teenage boys to engage in sexual activity or to expose themselves, and also broadcast video of himself doing the same.
Beginning on March 30, 2015, Conway uploaded child pornography to an Internet-based file storage service, according to the statement of facts. On May 29, 2015, representatives from the file storage service notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Conway's account contained at least 35 videos of child pornography.
After an investigation determined that the files were uploaded from Conway's residence, on July 8, 2015, the Harford County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at the residence and seized a desktop computer and other digital media. Forensic analysis of the computer revealed at least 350 images of child pornography, including depictions of pre pubescent children engaged in sexual acts, according to the statement of facts.
Conway's Internet file storage service account was examined pursuant to a search warrant, and was found to contain approximately 3,174 unique images and 319 unique videos of child pornography. The graphic and disturbing videos and images depicted pre pubescent boys and girls, engaged in sexual acts with adult men, and other images of sadistic conduct against children, prosecutors said.
On July 14, 2015, Conway fled Maryland, according to prosecutors. Because of his 2004 Harford County conviction, he was required to register as a sex offender and thus was also required to notify Maryland authorities if he left the state. He traveled to Virginia, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, California, Arizona and Idaho.
Conway stayed at a resort in Sedona, Arizona for 12 days, during which time two families at the resort complained to the local authorities that Conway made inappropriate sexual advances toward their teenage sons, according to federal prosecutors. After being questioned by Sedona Police, Conway left Sedona, went to an amusement park in California, then to Idaho, where he stayed for more than three weeks and was arrested on Aug. 26, 2015.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, after his arrest, Conway told law enforcement that on a previous visit to the amusement park he discovered a peephole in a men's bathroom stall, which allowed him to see children using the nearby stall. He had hoped the peephole still existed, but it did not.
Conway also admitted that as a medical professional in the Navy, he once had sexual relations with a male patient while the patient was sedated. He also admitted to sexually molesting a severely autistic, non-verbal boy while the victim was 11 to 13 years old; having sexual contact on multiple occasions with an eight year old girl; sexually molesting two infants, one of which was the child of a Navy colleague whom he was baby-sitting; fondling two boys between the ages of nine and 10 years old while playing with them in and around a pool; and engaging in sex acts with two different 15 year-old-boys whom he met online.
This case against Conway 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.
With Conway's sentencing, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein commended the FBI, Harford County Sheriff's Office, Harford County Child Advocacy Center, Ada County (Idaho) Sheriff's Office and U.S. Marshal Service for their work in the investigation.
The Harford County Child Advocacy Center is a task force comprised of the Harford County Sheriff's Office, Maryland State Police – Bel Air Barrack, Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace Police departments, Harford County State's Attorney's Office, Harford County Department of Social Services – Child Protective Services, and Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland. The center investigates allegations of child maltreatment while also providing services and resources for the abused child and his/her family.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul E. Budlow prosecuted Conway.