Maryland State Wire

A federal judge has sentenced Harrison James Miller, 32, of Hagerstown, Maryland, to 37 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for sexually exploiting two children. Miller previously pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and committing a felony crime involving a minor as a registered sex offender.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Brendan A. Hurson. The announcement was made by Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, along with Special Agent in Charge William J. DelBagno of the FBI Baltimore Field Office, Gina M. Cirincion from the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office, and Chief Paul Kifer of the Hagerstown Police Department.

According to court documents, Miller had been required to register as a sex offender after being convicted in Pennsylvania for an offense involving an 8-year-old child. After his release from prison in August 2022, he moved to Hagerstown but failed to register as mandated by law.

Authorities stated that Miller gained access to two children aged four and five and abused them over several months. He also took images of the minors and stored them in a password-protected folder on his cell phone. Law enforcement arrested Miller after one of the victims disclosed the abuse to their mother. A search of his phone led investigators to discover hidden images and other evidence.

"This case 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," said officials in the announcement. "Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims."

The U.S. Attorney's Office commended local law enforcement agencies for their role in investigating this case and thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Elizabeth McGuinn for prosecuting it.

More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at https://www.justice.gov/psc. Resources on internet safety education are available at https://www.justice.gov/psc under the “Resources” tab.

Further details about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office are available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-md or https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.