BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A former Baltimore County Correctional Officer has been sentenced to more than 33 years in federal prison for two counts of production of child pornography.
According to the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, 46-year-old Thomas Michael Mannion, Jr. previously admitted to engaging in sexually explicit conduct with two minor victims.
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A judge ordered that upon his release from prison, Mannion 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.
“Thomas Mannion is a predator and our children and communities are safer because he will now serve more than 33 years in federal prison,” said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur. “We are grateful for the collaboration of our law enforcement partners to remove this sexual predator from the community so he can no longer victimize our children.”
According to his plea, Mannion, who was a Baltimore County Correctional Officer at the time, rented the basement apartment of a townhome in Parkville where he lived alone.
Police were called to a residence in May 2019 after a neighbor saw Mannion in bed naked with Minor Victim 1, who was also unclothed. When police arrived, they located the minor victim, who was 13 years old at the time, in the basement bedroom area.
An investigation revealed that Mannion had met the victim a few months prior on social media. It was learned that Mannion had initially met Minor Victim 1 on March 9 of that year, brought him to his apartment, where they engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Mannion took photos and videos of Minor Victim 1 during this incident.
The former correctional officer admitted that on March 12, 2019 and March 17, 2019, as well as on additional occasions, he distributed the sexually explicit images of Minor Victim 1 to others. He also took additional sexually explicit photographs on May 6. A forensic analysis of Mannion’s cellphone revealed 21 images and two videos depicting Minor Victim 1 engaged in sexually explicit activity in March and an additional eight images of Minor Victim 1 documenting the sexual activity in May.
Mannion also communicated with Minor Victim 2, a 14-year-old male, through the social networking application. He admitted that on April 17, he went to the home of the minor and engaged in sexual activity with the victim and took photographs and videos documenting the sexual contact.
He then distributed the child pornography images to multiple other users of the social networking application.
According to the plea agreement, Mannion attempted to meet with several other minors with whom he communicated on the social networking application, even after the minors advised Mannion of their ages.
He also discussed his "sexual interest in other children that he knew or had contact with during sexually explicit chats with users of the application. In addition, a review of Mannion’s laptop computer revealed multiple images of child pornography."
