Crime Watch

Ex-Del. McKee pleads guilty in porn case

Robert A. McKee, a former Maryland delegate and executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to possession of child pornography. He faces a fine of up to $250,000 and a maximum of 10 years in prison, though prosecutors recommended a term of between 37 and 41 months. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 21. According to a statement of facts read in court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie Greenberg, McKee, 59, printed stories documenting sexual acts between young boys and men as well as pornographic images from Web sites with names such as "Johnny proudly presents" or "virginxboys." He documented his site visits in a journal and wrote that he looked at the pictures while reading the stories. McKee, a Washington County Republican, was voted into the Maryland House of Delegates in 1994. He resigned in February, two weeks after investigators raided his Hagerstown home in search of child pornography after a woman living there tipped them off.

Tricia Bishop

Man, 22, gets six years for child porn charges

A 22-year-old Baltimore man was sentenced to six years in federal prison yesterday 9-5for turning his computer into a clearinghouse for child pornography, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Levi Peterson advertised access to his home computer, where others downloaded more than 15,000 files showing children being sexually abused, according to prosecutors. When his home was searched in February 2006, investigators found more than 2,000 images of child pornography on his computer and another 4,500 images on a compact disc. Peterson told agents his previous porn stash had been seized during a 2003 raid, for which he was on juvenile probation in 2005 and 2006.

Tricia Bishop

Some teen statements in killing inadmissible