A former Harford County Sheriff’s Office detective has been ordered to spend 36 years in federal prison after admitting he sexually exploited two children and secretly recorded them in a home bathroom. The punishment, handed down Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, will be followed by lifetime supervised release and lifetime registration as a sex offender. Investigators say the case opened the door to a trove of covert cameras and explicit material that triggered overlapping state and federal prosecutions.
Judge Imposes 36-Year Federal Term
U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson sentenced 51-year-old Ryan Christopher Hall after Hall pleaded guilty in December 2025 to sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child sexual abuse material, according to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Prosecutors said the 36-year term will be followed by lifetime supervised release, and Hall must register as a sex offender for life.
Prosecutors: Hidden Cameras And A Years-Long Pattern
Prosecutors say Hall used hidden cameras he installed in a bathroom to create explicit photos and videos of two minor victims, according to reporting by WMAR. Local coverage and court filings that surfaced after his October 2024 arrest trace some of the recordings to the period between May 2017 and October 2024, per recordings dating back to 2017.
Investigation And Agency Response
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office led the investigation after a family member discovered a hidden camera in the bathroom. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said in a public notice that it immediately suspended Hall’s law-enforcement powers and removed him from the workplace once the allegations surfaced. Hall had served roughly 27 years with the Harford County Sheriff’s Office before the investigation began, and federal authorities say the multiagency probe produced the evidence that led to his federal plea and sentencing, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Defense Remarks And Victim Impact
In court, Hall apologized, and his attorney said he had accepted responsibility and would accept the sentence, according to The Baltimore Banner. Prosecutors and local coverage say the victims, now adults, described years of abuse and humiliation. Their testimony formed the core of both the federal counts and related state charges reported in local outlets.
Legal Fallout And What's Next
Federal law carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years and a statutory maximum of 30 years for each count of sexual exploitation of a child. Because Hall pleaded guilty to two counts, the court had to decide how to structure a sentence that reflected both offenses, local reporting shows. He still faces related charges in Carroll County Circuit Court as state prosecutors continue their case, according to the state sentencing and other local coverage of the original arrest.
Where The Agencies Stand
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office has said it is cooperating with Carroll County investigators and that it has no information indicating the crimes were committed with HCSO equipment or during Hall’s on-duty hours, according to a sheriff’s office news release. With the federal sentence now in place, the state case will move forward on its own track while Hall begins serving his federal term.
