Crime & Safety

Lutherville Man Convicted of Child Pornography, Marijuana Charges

Richard Wayne Poehlman will serve 18 months in prison.

Lutherville resident Richard Poehlman Monday to possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute and possession of marijuana.

Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Judith C. Ensor approved the plea agreement, including six years in prison and five years of supervised probation. Poehlman will serve 18 months in the Baltimore County Detention Center, and five years probation with the balance of his sentence suspended. 

Poehlman will also have to register as a tier 2 sex offender, and is prohibited from owning a computer or any device that has access to the Internet, aside from work-related purposes.

Find out what's happening in Lutherville-Timoniumwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Tompsett categorized the probation as “very stringent and restrictive.”

The after police obtained a search warrant to enter his Norman Avenue home in Lutherville.

Find out what's happening in Lutherville-Timoniumwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Police seized an Apple computer, CDs, DVDs, external hard drives and thumb drives—all containing child pornography—as well as 77 live marijuana plants, according to court records.

On May 23, 2011 a Baltimore County detective used a file sharing network to trace pornographic images to a Lutherville-based IP address belonging to Poehlman’s neighbor.

Police obtained a warrant and conducted a search of the neighbor’s home but found no evidence of child pornography. The neighbor informed police that the only other person who had access to his wireless Internet password was Poehlman, according to Tompsett. in exchange for landscaping services, according to court documents.

Shortly after, Tompsett said, Poehlman confessed to police that he had “an obsession” with child pornography. Police obtained a warrant and found “a fair amount” of child pornography in Poehlman’s home, Tompsett said.

There were audible gasps among courtroom observers as Tompsett read aloud images depicted within the illicit materials taken from Poehlman’s home.

Additionally, police discovered an “indoor green house” or “marijuana grow operation,” which yielded a seizure of 77 live plants, Tompsett said.

Poehlman’s attorney David F. Mister, of Timonium, presented five character references, as well as documentation of a clinical analysis by Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma and the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic. The analysis concluded that Poehlman was not a physical threat to those around him.

Mister said Poehlman would likely continue treatment with Berlin, "one of the foremost experts in dealing with and treating disease and sexually abhorrent behavior," following his client's incarceration.

Cockeysville resident Ira Rigger, who was arrested within two weeks of Poehlman on similar charges, —of which he will also serve 18 months.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Lutherville-Timonium