Cop pleads guilty to 8,742 images of child porn.

[vhx]

Edit: Forgot link:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.a.../13/1205126085158.html

A Queensland police officer caught with more than 8000 child porn images on his home computer has avoided spending any time in jail.

Thomas James Anthony Wilson, 25, pleaded guilty in Brisbane's District Court today to possessing the lewd material, including pictures of boys as young as 10 engaging in sex acts.

He was sentenced to 18 months' jail, but the term was wholly suspended after his lawyer successfully argued Wilson had downloaded the images by mistake.

The former policeman, who has since lost his job, was one of 1717 suspects identified as part of a 2003 child porn investigation by US Customs and FBI agents.

Police traced his credit card to a child porn website titled ?Sunshine Boys?, where Wilson had paid a $35 access fee.

A March 28, 2006 raid on his Shorncliffe home on Brisbane?s northside uncovered a computer loaded with pornography.

In all, 8742 images were identified as depicting children aged between 10 and 18 posing nude, masturbating and engaging in sex acts.

Wilson's defence barrister Craig Eberhardt told the court his client had not purposefully sought out child abuse images when he downloaded pornography files from the internet.
..,

This makes no sense. The man put in his credit card and had it charged to a child porn website, how does someone do that by mistake? Let a lone possess 8000+ images by mistake.

 

[Train]

pleaded guilty in Brisbane's District Court today to possessing the lewd material, including pictures of boys as young as 10 engaging in sex acts.
...
Wilson's defence barrister Craig Eberhardt told the court his client had not purposefully sought out child abuse images when he downloaded pornography files from the internet.

Uhh ya, I dont know of any 10 year old boys that could be confused for being over 18. Thats pretty disgusting.

18 months in jail seems kinda weak though.

 

[nageov3t]

I've downloaded crap from usenet that ended up being what was probably kiddie porn ;disgust;

I mean, maybe not (I guess it could have been adults made up to look like they were younger), but it was pretty fricken gross either way and was immediately deleted.

I guess whether or not he could plead ignorance would depend on the website, but it seems pretty suspect... how do you "accidentally" pay $35/month?

 

[vhx]

Yeah I imagine it is possible getting a handful of images by accident over things like that or P2P programs that are mislabeled. But 8700+? No way.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: loki8481
I've downloaded crap from usenet that ended up being what was probably kiddie porn ;disgust;

I mean, maybe not (I guess it could have been adults made up to look like they were younger), but it was pretty fricken gross either way and was immediately deleted.

I guess whether or not he could plead ignorance would depend on the website, but it seems pretty suspect... how do you "accidentally" pay $35/month?

Been there, done that. I used to be a heavy Usenet downloader and when going through stuff I downloaded I've run across the *WTF!!* images of all sorts. I'd go back and check the headers and sure enough there was 4-5 WTF headers mixed in among them. The difference is, if you see it and you aren't into it you delete it immediately. You don't have 8000 'accidental' images on your system.

In short, this decision is absolute bullshit. The justice system fails again.