New York Real Estate Agent Faces 5 Years for Child Porn

Matthias von Wrede, a New York real estate agent, faces five to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading child pornography.^[1]

Von Wrede was a manager at Engel & Volkers Southampton which serves clients willing to plunk down millions for estates or hundreds of thousands for summer rentals.^[2] Authorities said they confiscated a video of girls younger than 10 engaging in intercourse, a photograph depicting the ''sexual killing'' of a child, video of sadomasochistic torture, and images of babies being sexually abused.^[3]

Von Wrede is charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A which is defined as certain activities relating to material constituting or containing child pornography. In that statute it states that any person who 1) knowingly mails, or transports or ships in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, any child pornography; 2) knowingly receives or distributes A) any child pornography that has been mailed, or shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer; or B) any material that contains child pornography that has been mailed, or shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce by any means, including by computer.^[4]

Section (b) of this statute, which Von Wrede is also charged with states, 1) whoever violates, or attempts or conspires to violate, paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), or (6) of subsection (a) shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not less than 5 years and not more than 20 years, but, if such person has a prior conviction under this chapter, chapter 71, chapter 109A, or chapter 117, or under section 920 of title 10 (article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice), or under the laws of any State relating to aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, or abusive sexual conduct involving a minor or ward, or the production, possession, receipt, mailing, sale, distribution, shipment, or transportation of child pornography, such person shall be fined under this title and imprisoned for not less than 15 years nor more than 40 years.^[5]

---

^[1] AP Staff, Hamptons Real Estate Agent Pleads Guilty In Child Porn Case, Associated Press Newswire, January 11, 2008, available at LEXIS, News Library, Wire News Services.
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a).
^[5] Id., at § 2252A(b).