Middle River Man Sentenced to 3 Years for Possession of Child Pornography, Animal Cruelty
Content warning: This article contains references to child sexual abuse material and animal cruelty that some readers may find disturbing.
A Middle River man was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for possession of child pornography and aggravated animal cruelty.
After receiving a cyber tip last year, investigators searched the phone of 28-year-old Michael Reckley and found hundreds of photos and videos of child pornography, Assistant State’s Attorney John Magee said in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
Some images were of toddlers, he said.
Reckley also admitted to recording himself in sexual acts involving several of his family’s dogs, Magee said. He pleaded guilty in December to one count of aggravated animal cruelty and four counts of possession of child pornography.
Defense attorney Joseph Pappafotis said Reckley is on the autism spectrum and had experienced abuse himself as a youth. Reckley had no significant prior criminal history, he said.
Pappafotis asked Judge Keith Truffer to impose a sentence that focused on treatment for his client and recommended an 18-month jail sentence.
The state prosecutor asked Truffer for a longer prison term due to the “excessive” number of images found. Investigators discovered more than 250 images of child pornography with known victims on the phone after it was sent to a lab for forensic extraction, Magee said. Investigators found more than 1,400 additional images that were "of evidentiary value,” he said, meaning the images hadn’t been matched to known victims.
“It’s very upsetting to see it,” he said, “and when you see it, you know it.”
Magee asked the judge to sentence Reckley to five years in prison.
Reckley told Truffer he was “truly disgusted” with himself and prays that it never happens again.
While there’s no evidence that Reckley manufactured child pornography, Truffer said, “it’s a fair bet that there would be less of those [images] around if there were fewer people who wanted to purchase them and look at them.”
The fact that there is a demand for the images creates an ongoing problem of child sexual abuse used to create pornography, Truffer said.
Truffer sentenced Reckley to three years in prison and five years of supervised probation. He must register as a sex offender for 15 years after his release.
Reckley, of the 13000 block of Eastern Avenue, has been jailed at the Baltimore County Detention Center since his arrest in February 2025. He will receive credit for time already served and will serve the balance of his sentence in the Maryland Division of Correction.
Court records list Reckley's brother Nicholas Reckley as a co-defendant. Nicholas Reckley is charged with one count of promotion/distribution of child pornography and five counts of possession of child pornography, according to court documents.