Former Maryland cop and National Guardsman gets 3 years in prison for having 12k images of child porn

A former Maryland police officer and member of the National Guard who pleaded guilty to possessing over 12,300 depictions of child pornography was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in federal prison and a fine of $14,000, officials said Friday.

Daniel Morozewicz, 38, downloaded and distributed the pornography of young children from late 2020 to early 2021 while he was employed as a police officer in Rockville, Maryland, outside the nation's capital, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. He also repeatedly distributed pornography to undercover law enforcement officers.

Morozewicz was arrested in March 2021 while he was on duty as a Maryland National Guardsman at a mass vaccine clinic.

According to his plea agreement, Morozewicz took steps "to obstruct or impede" the investigation by factory resetting an iPhone and getting rid of an Apple computer after he learned federal agents planned to speak with him.

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Still, investigators uncovered thousands of depictions of child pornography, including hundreds of the abuse of babies and toddlers.

His federal prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. An attorney representing Morozewicz did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Morozewicz was employed with the Rockville Police Department since 2013 and was a member of the National Guard since 2015, the Washington Post previously reported.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-Maryland cop and National Guardsman sentenced for child pornography