Former Skowhegan Planning Board member receives 15-year sentence for child pornography charges

SKOWHEGAN — A former Skowhegan Planning Board member has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for the receipt and possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced on Tuesday.

Christopher Kruse, 51, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Bangor by Judge Lance E. Walker. Kruse had pleaded guilty to the charges last October.

According to court records, in November 2017, Kruse used the internet to access and receive several explicit videos depicting child pornography.  These videos were added to the collection Kruse kept on his personal computer dating back to 2015. The material was discovered Nov. 28, 2017, when police executed a search warrant at Kruse’s home.

In addition to Kruse’s prison sentence, he is required to pay $50,000 in restitution, $10,200 in special assessments and a $1,000 fine.

According to the documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice, when Walker handed down Kruse’s sentence, he noted that the case reflected “a grave concern to public safety that is greater than in the average case of possession of child pornography. …”

Walker also said that Kruse had “sought out and collected some of the most vile and disturbing images.”

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and the Bangor and Skowhegan police departments.

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