On April 7, 2015 Zachary Geyer, 24 of Chestertown, MD, appeared in the Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court and entered a plea of guilty to two counts of Child Pornography Distribution.  This case began with an online criminal investigation on the Bit Torrent network for individuals sharing child pornography.  The investigation focused on two pieces of known child pornography that were being circulated using Bit Torrent client software Shareaza.  The investigation, led by the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit, zeroed in on Mr. Geyer of Longfellow Road in Chestertown.

Police executed a search and seizure warrant at the home of Mr. Geyer and recovered evidence related to the investigation.  Mr. Geyer admitted to detectives that he was using he peer-to-peer file sharing program for sharing child pornography.  He further admitted to watching child pornography so that he would not act upon it in real life.

Geyer was arrested on November 20, 2014 and is currently being held in the Queen Anne’s County Detention Center pending sentencing on June 2, 2015.  He faces 50 years of incarceration and will be required to register as a Tier II Sex Offender for 25 years.

UPDATE:  On June 2, 2015 Geyer was sentenced to 10 years in the Division of Correction on Count 1 of the charging document.  The Judge suspended all but 18 months of this sentence.  On Count 2 of the charging document Geyer was sentenced to an additional 10 years of incarceration, the court suspended this jail sentence.  Once Geyer is released from incarceration he will be on supervised probation for a period of 5 years through the Division of Parole and Probation. The first year of the probation Geyer will be subject to GPS monitoring.  Geyer will also be required to register as a Tier II sex offender for 25 years.

This case was prosecuted by Christine Dulla Rickard, Deputy State’s Attorney.