Washington man sentenced for internet sex crimes

A man from Washington County who challenged and beat his first possessing, receiving, and distributing of charges will now spend an additional two and a half years in jail on another conviction, according to a federal judge. A twelve-person jury deliberated for three hours this past August and convicted the 42-year-old Eighty Four, PA man. In 2010, a federal jury convicted the man of the same exact charges and a judge sentenced the man to more than 17 years in jail. But the United States Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 2012 due to the judge not previewing video evidence that was shown to the jury. On Monday, the presiding judge said that the man’s sentence wasn’t based on his earlier appeal, but more so on an evaluation of the cruelty of his crimes. Moreover, the judge said that it was the man’s pure lack of regret for this crime, the first charge that was appealed, and a state conviction for exposing himself to a child. “…[the man’s] actions speak louder than his words,” said the judge. Court witnesses say the man took the first twenty minutes of his time on the stand to talk about the medical care he received in prison, before he talked about the conviction. The man told the judge and jury that someone else was actually responsible for assaulting a little girl, but that he only pleaded guilty because he was promised that his record would be expunged upon the completion of treatment. He said that someone else downloaded child pornography to his computer and that once he found it he reported it to authorities. If you have been arrested for internet crimes in Pittsburgh, call Western Pennsylvania Attorney Gary Gerson at 412-219-6875 for a free consultation today.