Bangor Man Sentenced to Almost 11 Years on Child Pornography Charges

Contact: F. Todd Lowell
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 945-0373

Bangor, Maine:  Acting United States Attorney Richard W. Murphy announced that Ernest R. Cook, 58, of Bangor, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to 130 months in prison and 15 years of supervised release for possessing child pornography and using the internet intending to view child pornography.  He was also ordered to pay $16,500 in restitution.  Cook pleaded guilty on November 18, 2016.

Court records reveal that on December 21, 2014, the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office received information that the defendant had images of child pornography on his computer.  The sheriff’s office executed a search warrant and seized the defendant’s computer and a flash drive.  A forensic examination by the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit (MSPCCU) revealed that the defendant used his computer to search for child pornography on the internet and saved those images to the flash drive.

In imposing sentence, Judge Woodcock said: “Society will not tolerate what you are doing.”

The investigation was conducted by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office, the MSPCCU and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.