Saturday, June 13, 2009

Gordon Lee Parkin --- 7 Years for Distributing Child Porn

A Granite Falls man was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison and will be required to register as a sex offender for distributing thousands of child porn images online.

Gordon Lee Parkin, 49, received the sentence Friday in U.S. District Court from U.S. District Judge James L. Robart. He also ordered lifetime supervised release for Parkin after he serves his term.

The judge also said he will consider ordering Parkin to pay restitution to one of the known victims in the case.

Parkin pleaded guilty to distributing child porn in January, said Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

He was identified by investigators with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as using a chat program to send more than 8,000 images of child pornography.

When a search warrant was executed at Parkin's home, agents discovered thousands of images of child pornography on his computer.

Agents also found more than 200 pictures of children in the neighborhood, including close-up shots attempting to photograph the underwear of young girls.

The chat logs on Parkin’s computer revealed that he had exchanged 8,645 still images and 11 movies of child pornography. In some instances he sent more than 750 images at a time to others via the chat program.

Many of the images were of victims identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and one of those victims has requested restitution from any defendant who distributed photos of her.

In asking for prison time and lifetime supervised release, Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan described how trading child pornography repeatedly victimizes innocent children.

"Each time an image of a child victim is traded – especially to an individual who has not seen such image in the past – the child victim is victimized all over again," Swaminathan said.

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, launched in February 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice. The initiative is designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.
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http://heraldnet.com/article/20090613/NEWS01/706139932

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