Federal Jury Convicts Gates County Man on Child Pornography Transportation and Possession Charges

– A federal jury has convicted Myron Curtis Pelech, 46, of Gates County, North Carolina, also known as “Ping Pelech,” on charges of transporting and possessing child pornography. Attorney Ellis Boyle of the Eastern District of North Carolina condemned Pelech’s conduct, stating, “This habitual pervert will no longer feed his disgusting fetishes hurting vulnerable children to stoke his twisted self-gratification. We will not tolerate this type of depraved behavior here.

” At the time of his arrest, Pelech was serving federal supervised release following a prior conviction in 2016 in the Eastern District of North Carolina for receiving child pornography. He had been released from prison less than a year before agents uncovered his involvement in similar criminal activity. The investigation began when FBI agents traced a significant volume of child sexual abuse material shared over the BitTorrent network to Pelech’s room at the Regency Inn in Fayetteville.

BitTorrent is a decentralized file-sharing system that allows users to exchange pieces of files simultaneously rather than downloading from a single server. In this case, the files shared included child pornography. Upon executing a search warrant at Pelech’s hotel room, agents recovered a concealed cell phone and a tablet hidden beneath the television stand.

Forensic analysis of the cell phone revealed a saved screenshot of a website dedicated to child sexual exploitation. Further examination of the tablet uncovered more than 150 videos and over 200 images depicting severe sexual abuse of very young children. Pelech now faces a federal prison sentence ranging from 15 to 40 years for transporting child pornography and an additional 10 to 20 years for possessing child pornography.

District Judge Louise W. The FBI continues to investigate the case. Attorney Ellis Boyle.

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