Joshua Lang Of Philly Sentenced To 35+ Years For Child Porn
On Tuesday, July 29, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced that a Philadelphia man who purchased child pornography from a 13-year-old girl on Instagram has been sentenced to more than 35 years in federal prison.
Instagram’s app symbol.
A smartphone screen displaying the Instagram login page.
Joshua Lang, 37, was found guilty of widespread child pornography and child sexual exploitation and was sentenced to 430 months in prison and lifetime supervised release. The notice also stated that he was ordered to pay $14,300 in special assessments and $23,545 in reparations.
When the Tampa Police Department informed the Philadelphia Police Department’s Special Victims Unit in July 2023 that Lang had bought sexually explicit photos from a 13-year-old girl on Instagram in December 2022, Lang’s offenses were made public. Later, investigators learned about years of systematic abuse committed by Lang and his collaborator, Kenneth Miller.
Prosecutors claimed that when authorities carried out a search warrant at the couple’s Mayfair residence on July 19, 2023, they found thousands of files pertaining to child sexual assault and hidden cameras. Investigators discovered that the two individuals collected over 13,000 files of child sexual abuse material and documented the hands-on sexual abuse of several children, including a girl between the ages of 8 and 9 and a male between the ages of 12 and 14.
Prior to their September 2023 federal indictment, Lang and Miller were initially accused in Philadelphia County. Later, a 16-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury, which included several charges of producing and receiving child pornography as well as conspiracy to make it.
Last year, Miller entered a guilty plea and was given a sentence of 400 months in prison and five years of supervised release.
Edward V. Owens, HSI Special Agent in Charge, praised the collaborative investigation by HSI, the Philadelphia Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, calling the abuse “carefully planned and executed.”
As part of the DOJ’s nationwide Project Safe Childhood campaign to prevent child sexual exploitation, this lawsuit was filed.
