‘Accidental’ Download Sending Man To Prison
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― A local man is likely to go to prison for years after he says he accidentally downloaded child pornography onto his computer.
Matthew White, 22, said he was surfing for pornography two years ago on Limewire — a fire sharing application that allows users to trade music, movies, games and pictures — when he discovered that some of the files he had downloaded were images of children.
Matt claims he quickly erased the files.
“It didn’t appeal to me,” he said. “I was looking for women my age, so I just wanted to download ‘College Girls Gone Wild’ and accidentally downloaded underage pornography.”
About a year later, FBI agents showed up at his family’s home. The family agreed to let agents examine the computer, and at first, they couldn’t find anything.
Investigators later were able to recover the deleted images from deep within the hard drive.
“I asked them, ‘Where did you get that? I don’t remember that.’ I asked them, ‘Could I access that if I wanted to?’” Matt said. “They said no.”
Facing 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography, Matt is pleading guilty on the advice of his public defender in hopes of getting a three and a half year sentence. He will also serve 10 years probation and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
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Jack Says:
The article mentions Limewire. There are many others…Bearshare is where I first picked up on this years ago. They are all the same and pedophiles use them to pander their smut.
Contrary to what the article says…if you come across this stuff “wherever”…send an e-mail to the local constabulary with a link to the source of the problem. They will forward to the people that handle the matter.
There is no reason for you to lose your computer.
Save and print out your mail message plus any responses you get “just in case”.
By the way — I never go near these programs anymore for obvious reasons.
Posted on December 12th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Mac Says:
Good advice, Jack. It’s ironic that the internet has opened the world in so many ways and what do some folks do with that? Exploit the most vulnerable who cannot defend themselves. There’s a special place in Hell for those who abuse children.
Posted on December 12th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Cynapse Says:
I call bullshit.
“Kiddie” on these networks that are available in the open are typically fakes set up by vigilantes looking to scare predators off their networks. Some of these efforts are well organized. The pervs caught on after a few years of this action and found ways to hide their crap in MP3′s and other files. 9 out of 10 times you can’t find real child porn on these networks unless you intentionally deal with a person or network that deals in it, and even then they’re pretty secretive.
The disturbing stuff that’s out in the open comes from Eastern Europe. It’s not kiddie porn but the women usually aren’t much older than 18 and are usually controlled by violent gangs. Sometimes that rather violent stuff creeps onto mainstream porn sites and causes Western audiences to revolt. Even porn freaks have their limits.
Definitely if you come acroiss a nasty email, let the cops know . As long as you don’t forward it, you probably won’t get in trouble. The cops I’ve talked to spend their time looking for hardcore collectors who know what they’re doing, not the average person who receives unwanted surprises.
-Cynapse
(vigilante 1992-1995)
Posted on December 13th, 2009 at 1:01 am
Cynapse Says:
BTW these guys are great -
http://perverted-justice.com/
If you’ve seen the “To Catch a Predator” series, it is basically a collaboration between NBC, the police and this group. They took the sort of baiting used in the mid-90′s to a whole new level.
Posted on December 13th, 2009 at 1:10 am