Bethany Man Admits to Child Porn Charges

A Bethany man pleaded guilty today to one count of accessing child pornography. Mark Porter, 34, also admitted to violating the conditions of his supervised release that followed a previous federal conviction for possession of child pornography.

Porter’s first offense resulted in a sentence of 18 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography. He was released from prison and began serving his term of supervised release on July 30, 2009.

One of Porter’s conditions of supervised release was that his computer activity would be monitored by the U.S. Probation Office through the use of monitoring software installed on his computer. In April 2011, a U.S. Probation officer observed through the monitoring software that Porter repeatedly searched for and accessed images of child pornography on the Internet.

Judge Janet C. Hall has scheduled sentencing for Apr. 2, at which time Porter faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years, a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000 on the charge of accessing child pornography.  He also faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years for violating the terms of his supervised release. The penalties in this matter are enhanced based on Porter’s prior federal conviction for possession of child pornography.

Porter has been detained in federal custody since his arrest on Apr. 26, 2011.

This matter has been investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI), and the United States Probation Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Neeraj Patel.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, and the District of Connecticut’s “Operation Constant Vigilance,” which are aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.