A Navy employee from Silver Spring, Maryland, will spend the next 40 years of his life in prison after he admitted he enticed more than 10 children to produce sexual images for him that he then shared with other adults while overseas.
A judge sentenced Spencer Steckman, 36, after he took a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Maryland, admitting he bribed at least 10 preteen and teenage boys to engage in sexual acts, recorded them, and shared these images over WhatsApp and Kik.
Steckman communicated with teens, offering one an iPhone X, another a PlayStation redemption code to buy video games, and still another marijuana in exchange for videos and photos, according to the plea agreement.
“He employed a variety of tactics, including misrepresenting his identity … and encouraging the children to compete with others to produce and send the ‘best’ photos,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Steckman also admitted that he gave one of the victims cash and marijuana to engage in sexual activity with him.
In 2017, Steckman moved to Japan to work for the Armed Forces and, according to prosecutors, shared his child pornography with other like-mind offenders on encrypted devices.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service arrested Steckman in Japan, and he entered a guilty plea to reduced charges in June.
NCIS detained Steckman in Japan on March 27, 2018. He was transported back to Maryland by the U.S. Marshals Service to appear before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He has remained in custody since that time.
Judge Paul W. Grimm ordered that Steckman pay restitution of $120,000 to the victims and that Steckman must register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
