AUGUSTA — A Fairfield man who pleaded guilty to charges that he shared and possessed child pornography even as he was on probation for a previous child pornography conviction was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.
Jeffrey C. White, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of dissemination of sexually explicit material and five counts of possession of sexually explicit materials, and admitted to violating the terms of his probation after he was found to be in possession of child pornography in Benton last year.
Assistant District Attorney Amanda Seekins said some of the images found in White’s possession involved sexual exploitation of children younger than 3 years old.
The dissemination charge came after Maine State Police discovered that an IP address they traced back to White had posted 11 videos of child pornography online, all involving children younger than 12, available for others to download.
Seekins said images White possessed included photographs of young children performing sex acts on adults. District Court Judge Sarah Gilbert viewed some of the photographs on a laptop in court Thursday, before sentencing him.
Gilbert said the images were abhorrent and that White’s actions in sharing them increased the likelihood children would be abused and that such actions “constituted torture.”
“It’s torture what’s being done to them,” Gilbert said. “Those children, in those videos, that’s not a fantasy world. Those are real children being tortured.”
The judge also said White, by possessing and disseminating child pornography while he was on probation for his previous conviction on child pornography charges and while he was attending sex offender counseling, has indicated he will reoffend and poses a serious risk to society.
She sentenced him to seven years in prison, with none of that time suspended.
White was previously convicted of possession of sexually explicit material on June 19, 2019, in Skowhegan, according to the indictment.
White, in a green jail uniform, addressed the court Thursday, saying he knows what he did was wrong, he doesn’t like what he did, and he wants to get better.
“I was doing good and then I fell off the tracks, and until you’re in this situation, it’s hard to understand what goes on. And to be honest I got to a point I didn’t even know who I was,” White said. “I made a mistake. A very serious mistake. And I know I have to suffer the consequences for those mistakes. That’s how I was brought up. I just ask for leniency, for mercy.”
His attorney, Donald Hornblower, sought a four-and-a-half year sentence and noted White, when confronted by police with a search warrant at his home, immediately admitted they would find explicit images on his phone and other electronic devices and took responsibility for his actions. He said White has Tourette syndrome and had very few friends growing up, which prompted him to create an artificial fantasy world.
Hornblower said White has some very good qualities and is an incredibly close family member who loves his mother, who was in court Thursday, and who took care of his cousin when she broke her leg.
Gilbert acknowledged that White taking responsibility and expressing remorse for his crimes was a mitigating factor, but said that was the only one, and she had serious concerns about his inability to control himself in society.
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