SCRANTON - The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Grant Harris, 36, of Carbon County, pleaded guilty Thursday before Senior U.S. District Court Judge James M. Munley in Scranton, to producing child pornography.

According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, Harris, who resided in Albrightsville at the time of the offense, admitted to persuading and enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual image of that conduct.The crime occurred sometime between 2008 and 2009, when the victim was 8 years old.Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2015, shortly after agents and police discovered the child pornography on a computer used by the defendant.Judge Munley ordered a presentence investigation to be completed and scheduled sentencing in the case for Feb. 17, 2017.Harris remains detained in prison pending sentencing.The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.Assistant United States Attorney Francis P. Sempa is prosecuting the case.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.Harris faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a potential maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.