KY man gets 20 years in prison after being identified as significant spreader of child porn
A man identified as one of the biggest spreaders of child pornography in Kentucky through one program has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
That was the statutory maximum for Adam Fonso Childers, 71, of Ashland. A jury convicted him one one charge each of possessing and distributing child porn.
U.S. Disrict Judge David L. Bunning also ordered Childers to pay more than $175,000 in restitution to victims of child pornography and other assessments, according to a news release from the DOJ.
Evidence showed Childers amassed hundreds of thousands of images of child pornography over decades, dating back to magazines from the 1970s, according to the news release.
He was one of 10 people who shared the most child porn over one particular peer-to-peer network he used, according to federal authorities.
Childers said he did not knowingly possess material showing child sexual abuse and gave various reasons for why it was on his computer, including blaming a virus, according to a court document.
His claims were absurd and false, the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Lauren Melton, said in a sentencing memorandum.
Childers “possessed a large volume of horrific child sexual abuse material and also shared such material with others, thus fueling an online ‘criminal conspiracy’ that peddles in the misery of children,” Melton wrote.
Bunning sentenced Childers Monday in federal court in Ashland.
