An Armstrong County man has pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony charge of possession of child pornography and agreed to an 11-year prison sentence.

Thomas Robert Hawk, 41, of Parker, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of and accessing with intent to view material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, and is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 8.

He entered his plea last week in U.S. District Court in Erie before Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.

According to the FBI, from August 2021 to May 2022, Hawk possessed and accessed visual images and videos in individual digital files depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

As part of his plea agreement, Hawk agreed that he had violated the conditions of his federal supervised release that he was serving for a 2009 federal conviction for receiving child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

Hawk also agreed as part of his guilty plea to a sentence of 11 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. The law provides for a total sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Led by the U.S. Attorneys' offices and the criminal division's child exploitation and obscenity section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

The FBI and U.S. Probation office conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Hawk.