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Man sentenced in child porn case

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WAYNESBURG – Matthew Wayne McIntire, the 31-year-old Cumberland Township man who pleaded guilty Dec. 9 to charges he downloaded and shared child pornography over the Internet, will be eligible for parole later this month.

Judge Farley Toothman sentenced McIntire Thursday to 7 to 23 ½ months in Greene County jail followed by five years of probation with credit for six months he already served. McIntire pleaded guilty to four counts of disseminating child pornography, five counts of possessing child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.

“Any less of a sentence would erase the value of your crime,” Toothman told McIntire.

McIntire took the stand and said he is a “changed person,” and he learned to control his thoughts and not let them take over his actions.

Toothman asked if McIntire considers himself to be recovered. He said, “Oh yes, absolutely.” He said he “can’t keep dwelling on it. That’s what kept me in that mindset,” he said.

However, Toothman said he wasn’t convinced that it was that simple.

“It would be easy to consider this relatively insignificant in one degree, but do you realize why it isn’t?” Toothman said.

“An addiction takes at least seven years to march away from. You believe you are recovered. I can’t believe that you are fully recovered,” Toothman said.

Based upon severity of charges, McIntire is required by law to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law for the remainder of his life. Upon release from jail, he must submit a sample of his DNA to state police.

As special conditions of his release, he is prohibited from communication with anyone under the age of 18 and may not access the Internet. Additionally, he is to undergo a mental health exam within two months of his release and comply with all recommended treatment.

McIntire was arrested Sept. 24 when agents of the attorney general’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, assisted by Cumberland Township police, served a warrant at his parents’ residence, located at 152 Live Easy Road, Carmichaels.

When questioned by investigators, McIntire said he lived in the basement of the home where officers located a desktop computer and flash drive containing child pornography.

McIntire told investigators he was the only person who used the computer and admitted searching for, downloading and viewing child pornography through a peer-sharing program on the Internet. He said he installed the sharing program each time he downloaded child pornography and then removed it to prevent getting caught. McIntire told police he would use file cleaning software to wipe away any traces of the program from his computer. He said he placed the files into a shared folder on the computer, making them accessible to others on a peer-to-peer network.

Forensic examiners from the AG’s office determined McIntire ran the cleaning software just hours before their arrival at his residence Sept. 24.

On Aug. 27, agents utilized a peer-to-peer file sharing network to directly connect to a computer at an IP address later determined to be at McIntire’s residence to download a file containing “known child pornography.” Agents connected with McIntire’s computer again Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 when they downloaded additional files containing child pornography.

Such files depicted videos of children ranging in age from approximately 6 years old to 10 years old engaged in various sexual acts with adults and also exposing themselves in explicit poses, according to investigators.

Investigators recognized several of the files shared by McIntire from identifiers attached to them. Among the files downloaded by McIntire were several with a descriptor indicating they were from a former child pornography distributor from Ukraine. This distributor posed as a fashion modeling agency to recruit more than 1,500 children from ages 8 to 16 to exploit. The Ukranian government and Interpol raided the business in 2004 and shut it down.

Suspected child predators can be reported to the Attorney General’s Child Predator Section by calling the Child Predator Hotline at 1-800-385-1044. Anonymous tips can also be sent directly from a cellphone by texting PAKIDS + YOUR TIP to 847411, or through an online complaint form.

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