Pitcairn woman pleads guilty to child porn; faces 15 to 30 years in prison

A Pitcairn woman pleaded guilty to producing and sending images of child pornography to a man online, federal prosecutors said.

Rebecca Owens, 24, admitted as part of her guilty plea to sending the sexually explicit images of a 3-year-old child taken on her cell phone to a Monroe County man during a “sexual online chat,” records show.

The law allows for a sentence of not less than 15 years and up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said the prosecution of Ownens demonstrates his office’s mandate “to use every resource to protect our children from sexual exploitation at the hands of pedophiles.”

“No matter what dark shadows these predators hide in, law enforcement will shine a light on them and hold them accountable for their conduct,” Brady said. “Our prosecutors and law enforcement partners will not rest until every victim of child sexual exploitation is rescued and defendants like Owens are behind bars.”

A trooper with the Pennsylvania State Police first located images of the child last November while investigating a Stroudsburg man identified in court records only as “M.K.,” a criminal complaint shows.

The trooper — as part of the Northeast Computer Crimes Task Force — determined that M.K. was communicating with someone in Pittsburgh, based in information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. FBI agents identified the person as Owens.

Investigators found images on Owens’ public social media account and sent them to the trooper, who identified one of the children as the child in the sexually explicit images, records show. A search of the woman’s house turned up items on display in the explicit images.

“Aided and abetted by M.K.,” prosecutors said, “Owens induced a female child victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions to send to M.K.”

Owens confessed in an interview with Allegheny County Police to sending M.K. sexually explicit photos of the child in May.

M.K. is being prosecuted separately by the state in Monroe County, said Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for the U.S. District Court of a Western Pennsylvania. He has not yet been identified in publicly available court records.

Owens pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Pittsburgh to a charge of production and attempted production of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Colville scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 24.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi M. Grogan prosecuted the case with help from the FBI and state and county police.