Defendant Took Sexually Explicit Images and Videos of Two Minor Victims While They Slept
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Carl Gage Linden, age 57, of Mount Rainier, Maryland, to 32 years in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, for production of child pornography.
Judge Xinis also ordered Linden to pay a special assessment of $200 and that, upon his release from prison, Linden 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 (“SORNA”).
Linden was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,401 to the victims.
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Chief Linwood Alston of the Mount Rainier Police Department; and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy.
According to his guilty plea, Linden was arrested on November 12, 2020, on charges of second degree assault and third and fourth degree sexual offenses, after Victim 1 found sexually explicit photos of herself on Linden’s phone. A subsequent forensic analysis of Linden’s laptop and cellular phone revealed dozens of videos, photos, and images depicting the sexual abuse of Victim 1 and Victim 2, when the victims were between seven and eleven years old.
As required by his plea agreement on the federal charges, on November 30, 2022, Linden also pleaded guilty to related sex abuse charges in Prince George’s County Circuit Court. Linden is scheduled to be sentenced in that case on March 22, 2023.
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. 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended the FBI, the Mount Rainier Police Department, and the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caitlin Cottingham and Kelly O. Hayes, who prosecuted the federal case.
