David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that  MARK PORTER, 35, of Bethany, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to 125 months of imprisonment, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for accessing child pornography, and for violating the conditions of his supervised release that followed a previous federal conviction for possession of child pornography.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on February 14, 2008, PORTER was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Connecticut to 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.

PORTER has been detained in federal custody since his arrest on April 26, 2011.

On January 9, 2012, PORTER pleaded guilty to one count of accessing child pornography.  On that date, he also admitted that he violated the conditions of his supervised release.

Judge Hall sentenced PORTER to 120 months of imprisonment for accessing child pornography, and 60 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.  Judge Hall ordered that 55 months of the 60-month sentence will run concurrent to the 120-month sentence, for an effective term of imprisonment of 125 months.

The penalties in this matter were enhanced based on PORTER’s prior federal conviction.

This matter was investigated by the ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Probation Office.  The case was 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.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov

 

 

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