A Sykesville resident and former family dentist pleaded guilty to promoting/distributing child pornography.
Adam V. Slatniske, 28, of the 5400 block of Mineral Hill Road, was charged in November with five counts each of promoting/distributing child pornography and possessing child pornography. He was arrested by the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office and accused of possessing and sharing multiple images of child pornography through an online social network and accessing the site while working at Parkville Family Dentistry in Baltimore County, according to a Nov. 5 news release from the Sheriff’s Office. Slatniske’s former employer said in November he no longer worked there.
Slatniske pleaded guilty Monday in Carroll County Circuit Court to one count of promoting/distributing child pornography, online court records show. A jury trial was scheduled to begin May 18, but was postponed. Courts have been closed to the public since mid-March due to the pandemic, with exceptions for emergency matters.
Ashley Pamer, senior assistant state’s attorney, prosecuted Slatniske’s case on behalf of the state. She said Slatniske entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one charge, and then the state agreed to abandon pursuing the other charges.
“I think it was a fair outcome,” Pamer said Wednesday.
Slatniske’s date for sentencing has yet to be scheduled. The maximum sentence, according to sentencing guidelines, would be three years incarceration, Pamer said. At minimum, he would be put on probation, she said.
If he is incarcerated, Slatniske would serve his time under home detention, as per the plea agreement, according to Tom Maronick Jr., Slatniske’s attorney.
Slatniske pleaded before Judge Maria L. Oesterreicher. He will appear before her to be sentenced, according to Maronick.
“We look forward to our opportunity in court,” Maronick said Wednesday. “Our judge is very fair and I’m confident she’ll continue to give us a fair shot when we go to disposition.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the investigation was sparked by a tip made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
On Oct. 18, the Sheriff’s Office received the tip, which the social network MeWe reported Sept. 10 to the national center, according to charging documents. The child pornography files police found linked to the MeWe account included videos depicting female children, including a 12-year-old, engaged in sexual acts, charging documents state.
MeWe spokesperson David Westreich said in an email Thursday that Slatniske had been removed from the social network.
“This person was banned and removed from MeWe and our team reported him to the authorities. MeWe’s Terms of Service is strict and clear: illegal activity and pornography are prohibited, and our Trust and Safety Team works hard every day to remove it,” the statement reads.
Police arrested Slatniske at his home Nov. 4. Slatniske allegedly admitted to accessing the social network account while at work, according to charging documents.
A previous version of this story misstated when courts were closed to the public.
