BALTIMORE, MD—A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Muhammad Luqman Rana, 32, of City of Vaughan, Ontario, for the federal charges of production of child pornography and extortion by threat to injure the reputation of another. The indictment was returned on December 11, 2019 and unsealed on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 upon his extradition from Canada.

The indictment was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; and Chief Mark Saunders of the Toronto Police Services (Canada).

According to the 10-count indictment, from June 2014 to June 2016 Rana persuaded, induced, and coerced five minor victims, residing in Maryland, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Washington, and New York, to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography and extorted the victims by threatening to injure their reputation.

Rana made his initial appearance in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore on Wednesday and is detained pending trial.

If convicted, Rana faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison for production of child pornography and up to two years of imprisonment for extortion by threat to injure the reputation of another. The maximum statutory penalty for all of the charged conduct is 160 years in federal prison.

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