Man sentenced to 2-10 years for child porn

An Orofino man was sentenced to 2-10 years in prison after investigators found hundreds of confirmed images of child pornography.

William J. Campbell, 79, was sentenced Wednesday by 2nd District Judge Mark Monson at the Nez Perce County Courthouse. Campbell was charged with four felony counts of possessing child sexually exploitative material for having material of children ages 6-10 and 8-12 engaged in sexual acts. The Idaho Attorney General’s Office was also involved in the case by working with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children.

Monson imposed a 2-10 year sentence for each charge with the sentences to run concurrently. Campbell was given credit for 169 days and will pay $545.50 for court costs and a $1,500 penalty for each count to be paid to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Campbell pleaded guilty in November, but didn’t have a plea agreement so there was no recommendation before the court. Marsha Larson was at the courthouse representing the Attorney General’s Office and argued for various sentences for each of the counts that would come to a total 4-14 years sentence.

Larson summarized the investigation that began with cybertips of child sexually abusive material that were later found on Campbell’s laptop. A reverse image search was found on the computer for more images.

Larson described some of the content found on the computer, warning the court of the explicit content. She read outloud search terms that contained explicit language and searches for pornography of young girls, incest and bestiality, as well as describing the images and videos that were found on the laptop. Some people who were in the courtroom left and several others became emotional.

Moscow Police Department detective Lawrence Mowery testified that more than 90,000 files were found on the computer and 30,000 were analyzed. Of those, 500 were confirmed to be child sexually exploitative material and 40 the children had their identities confirmed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Mowery said they stopped analyzing the images as the case had been mediated so as to not be “traumatized any further” so it’s unknown how many images the computer actually contained.

Larson said that Campbell blamed the incident on the internet, producers of the material and investigators. She said he told investigators that he thought it was unfair for someone to be arrested for doing something in their own home. Campbell also admitted that he viewed child pornography daily and was attracted to elementary age children.

Larson said Campbell is a risk to society. She also pointed out that he lives near schools and other areas where children congregate. Larson suggested that his behavior will continue to escalate and put children at risk.

“What’s next, your honor, if this defendant is free to roam our streets?” Larson said. “This is the time to prevent anything further from happening. Our community deserves better.”

There was no victim impact statement as Larson said finding the victims could be impossible.

“The state is the voice of those children,” she said.

Campbell’s public defender, Lawrence Moran, asked for a 2-10 year or 3-10 year sentence with credit for time served. He said Campbell has a severe addiction and did admit to his crimes and what he did during an evaluation. Moran told the court that Campbell needs treatment for his addiction and has no other criminal history other than minor infractions.

Moran noted that Campbell pleaded guilty and didn’t have an agreement but allowed for open recommendation, which he said was unusual. Moran said some of the statements and attitude from Campbell highlighted by the state was him being defensive during the start of the search and investigation. Moran said that Campbell was a low risk to reoffend and amenable to treatment. He said Campbell has recognized “his behavior has real consequences for real people in the real world.”

Campbell echoed that sentiment in his statement to the court, saying he was remorseful for the pain he caused to the people he didn’t know, and friends and loved ones. Campbell said the experience being incarcerated has been a deterring factor for future crimes. The experience was the worst experience of his life, “worse than two tours in Vietnam.”

Campbell told Monson he has a new focus to rebuild his life within the restrictions of the court. Campbell said he’s complicit in a “deviant industry” and looking at the images is not just personal indulgence but illegal.

“I don’t know what it would take to do that again, someone would have to put a shotgun to my head,” Campbell said, about the possibility of reoffending.

Before issuing his sentence, Monson discussed the arguments of the attorneys and details of the case and reports. He said that the victims are real, even if they are largely unknown and the type of impact the crime will have is also unknown. He stated that these crimes can create a cycle where the victims perpetrate similar crimes themselves.

Monson noted Campbell’s low risk to reoffend and minimal criminal history.

“I’m going to put a caveat on that (criminal history), meaning that you haven’t been caught,” Monson said. “You have been engaging in serious criminal history for a while.”

Monson said Campbell is in need of treatment but was concerned about statements he made saying he wasn’t aware that it was illegal.

“I don’t believe you,” Monson said. “I don’t think a single person here believes watching child porn isn’t illegal.”

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.