8 men ruin their lives and embarrass others with child porn habit
Army Colonel Sentenced to 12 Years in
Child Pornography Case
By MARK SCOLFORO, ASSOCIATED PRESSHARRISBURG, Pa.
A colonel who once headed the U.S. Army's strategic war gaming division sobbed and apologized Wednesday before being sentenced to 12 years for receipt and distribution of child pornography.
Col. Robert Rice, 59, told a federal judge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that he was deeply ashamed and acknowledged that the victims of child pornography may never heal.
"When this began I didn't see the human beings," Rice said. "I came to realize that this is not a victimless crime. That each time an image is passed it renews the ... emotional damage."
He said he was "so sorry and ashamed for what I did to continue that cycle."
The sentence was made concurrent with a four-year term he received in October after pleading guilty to three pornography counts during a military court-martial. Those findings and sentence are under review by an Army general.
In the federal case, Rice was convicted by a jury, and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Clancy said his actions during the investigation and trial were calculated. "The severity of this kind of crime cannot be overstated," Clancy said.
Clancy said that Rice wore his full dress uniform, bedecked in medals, every day of his trial.
Rice also blamed his wife for his own conduct, which Clancy said subjected her "to an extended period of humiliation." Clancy said they have been involved in a protracted, bitter divorce that is not final.
Rice told U.S. District Judge Christopher Conner that his own actions put his wife in an impossible position. "She had the moral courage to do what was right, and I did not," Rice said.
Rice, who has spent 37 years in the military, was most recently assigned to the U.S. Army War College's Center for Strategic Leadership in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was arrested in 2013.
Conner said Rice's criminal activity became known because of software that had been installed on one of his computers. He said Rice had a large number of images and displayed knowledge of and experience in trading child pornography, actions that occurred over an extended period of time.
He was fined $5,100 and will have to spend 10 years under supervision upon release.
Former Survivor contestant jailed for
child pornography
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Michael Skupin winces in pain after badly burning his hands, face and shoulders during an episode of Survivor II: The Australian Outback.
PONTIAC, Mich. — A former contestant of the CBS TV show “Survivor” has been sentenced to at least a year in prison for possessing child pornography.
Michael Skupin appeared Tuesday in Oakland County court in suburban Detroit. He asked for mercy from the judge and said he’s “deeply sorry.” But Skupin denied downloading the photos on his laptop.
So, what's he sorry for?
In a separate case, he was placed on probation and ordered to pay $31,800 to victims of a financial scheme. During that investigation, authorities found child porn on Skupin’s laptop. He was convicted in November.
Skupin will be eligible for parole after a year. The longest he can be kept in prison is four years.
In 2001, Skupin had to be evacuated from the “Survivor II: The Australian Outback” after falling into a campfire, but he returned for “Survivor: Philippines” in 2012.
Pontiac, MI
Man, 33, facing child porn charges after investigation in Guelph, Ont.
By: Staff The Canadian Press
GUELPH, Ontario — A 33-year-old man is facing child pornography charges after an investigation in Guelph, Ont.
Local police say they'd undertaken a lengthy investigation into child porn offences, but provided no details.
They say the man was arrested Tuesday and charged with accessing and possessing child pornography as well as making it available for distribution.
Police did not release the man's name. He is due to appear in court on Feb. 7.
Guelph, Ontario
Clark Co. man faces federal child porn charges
By: Richard Wilson
A Clark County man is facing federal child pornography charges and is being held in jail following his Dec. 22 arrest.
Timothy Kenneth Wright, 45, of New Carlisle, is charged with one count each of possessing and distributing material containing "visual depictions involving the sexual exploitation of a minor," according to records with the U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio..
The defendant has been appointed a public defender. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a detention hearing is set for Thursday in Magistrate Judge Michael J. Newman's courtroom.
Court records show the case against Wright was filed on Dec. 15 and he was arrested by U.S. Marshals the following week.
Wright was sent to prison in 1996 for three years after being convicted of a similar offense involving a minor in nudity material.
He previously lived in Fairborn and in 2010 he was charged with failing to register his address in Greene County.
Wright is not currently registered as a sex offender in the state of Ohio.
New Carlisle, OH
Lewiston man gets 10 years for child porn
Sun Journal Staff CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS, Staff Writer
LEWISTON — A federal judge imposed a 10-year sentence on a local man for seeking child pornography on his computer.
Douglas Blodgett, 46, appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland where the judge also sentenced him to a decade of supervised release for accessing with intent to view material containing images of child pornography. He also was ordered to pay $3,000 in restitution to the child depicted in several of the child pornography images he accessed by computer.
Blodgett had pleaded guilty to that charge in August.
At his Lewiston home in March, Blodgett had logged on to his home computer and accessed various child pornography sites. He used so-called Internet Relay Chat through his Internet browser to find child pornography, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Chapman.
Prosecutors indicated they would have been able to establish at trial that the information about Blodgett's Internet access was obtained during a forensic search of his computer and through admissions he made to investigators, according to court records.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Homeland Security investigations.
Lewiston, Maine
Child porn victims sue ex-Pennsylvania college professor
ERIE, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania college professor convicted on child pornography charges is being sued by eight victims depicted in the porn series authorities discovered on his computers.
The victims, identified only by pseudonyms, filed a lawsuit against 59-year-old Kirk Nesset in Erie federal court last week seeking statutory damages of $150,000 apiece in addition to compensatory and punitive damages.
Seattle-based lawyer Carol Hepburn says she brought the legal action to compensate the victims, who continue to suffer because recordings of their abuse are online forever.
The former creative writing and contemporary literature professor resigned from his position at Allegheny College following his arrest in October 2014.
Nesset is currently serving a 76-month term in a federal prison in California.
Erie, PA
Ann Arbor area doctor charged with
possession of child porn
By Darcie Moran
ANN ARBOR, MI - A doctor from the Ann Arbor area faces federal charges of possession of child pornography.
Timothy Paul Barth, 66, of Scio Township was indicted on two charges for receipt and possession of child pornography on Dec. 20 in the Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Court, federal court records show.
Barth came under investigation after Ann Arbor area Best Buy employees found images of child pornography on his computer while working on it in April 2016.
According to the complaint filed on Dec. 13, investigators found about 3,729 images of child pornography, primarily of prepubescent girls, on Barth's laptop.
Barth remains in federal custody after a detention hearing on Dec. 16 in which U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Sara Woodward revealed allegations that Barth assaulted female relatives as children.
One victim reported in 2011 that she was assaulted as a child in the 1990s when she was sick at a holiday gathering, and he was allowed to take care of her because he was a doctor, according to a Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office report included in online court records.
David Steingold, Barth's attorney, raised questions about the validity of the claims and the timing of the 2011 report, indicating there may have been a disagreement between Barth and the relative before she contacted police, according to audio recordings of the hearing. Woodward disputed Steingold's assertions, according the audio recordings.
Steingold also said Barth is seeing a psychologist, who, according to court records, specializes in treatment of sexual disorders and forensic evaluation of sexually-related offenses.
A hearing to review his appeal of his detention is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2017.
Barth, who is listed as an Ann Arbor doctor, has lived in the community for more than 35 years and was working as a general internist at clinics in Warren and Detroit at the time of his arrest, according to court documents.
Scio Township, MI
Teacher loses licence for not disclosing
child porn convictions
Alistair Martin-Smith did not reveal that he had been convicted of offences in the United Kingdom in 2007.
By TERESA LATCHFORD Aurora Banner
A York Region teacher has been stripped of his certification for failing to reveal child pornography convictions.
The Ontario College of Teachers Discipline Committee has found Alistair Martin-Smith guilty of misconduct when he failed to disclose criminal convictions relating to child pornography when applying for a long-term occasional teaching position with the York Region District School Board. At his hearing, Martin-Smith pled guilty to professional misconduct and his certification and qualification with the organization was revoked immediately.
While the school board is unable to speak about specific cases and would not confirm or deny if this teacher set foot in a classroom, the board’s recruitment and retention manager, Gail Long, said many teachers are hired on a conditional agreement.
“The full hiring process isn’t complete until the applicant’s vulnerable sector screening is complete and comes back clean and clear,” she said. “If there is a red flag in the results, human resources will take a closer look.”
An item of concern on a screening report would trigger an adjudication process within the human resources department, she added. The issue would be further examined, the applicant may be asked questions for clarification and it is at the discretion of the department whether employment should be approved or denied.
“Our priority is student safety,” Long said. “We do our due diligence and ensure screening reports are clean and clear before a teacher sets foot in a classroom.”
In 2006, Martin-Smith lived and worked in the United Kingdom. He took his laptop into a repair shop where a technician checked the hard drive and found what looked like pornographic images of children, according to the agreed statements of facts released by the Ontario College of Teachers.
The repair shop reported it to police and Martin-Smith was arrested and charged. The images found included more than 1,700 pornographic images and videos of individuals who were or who appeared to be children.
In 2007, he was convicted of one count of taking an indecent photograph and 14 counts of making indecent photographs of children relating to the images he had downloaded from the Internet.
In 2012, he applied for a long-term occasional teacher position with the York Region District School Board. After completing the required paperwork and completing an interim offense declaration, he was hired.
Following consent by Martin-Smith, the York Regional Police and Toronto Police Service proceeded with a reference check and a vulnerability sector screening report, which all board staff must undergo. In 2013, the report uncovered his criminal record in the United Kingdom.
The Ontario College of Teachers investigated the allegations of Martin-Smith providing false information regarding his professional qualifications, failing to reveal criminal convictions and signing a declaration with false or omitted information.
It was also decided Martin-Smith’s name would be made public in the college’s monthly publication to act as a deterrent, not only for the applicant himself, but others who may consider providing false or omitting information on applications in the future.
York Region, Ontario
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