A West Scranton man will spend up to six years in state prison for downloading thousands of sexually explicit videos and photos of children onto his computer.
On Tuesday, Lackawanna County Judge Michael J. Barrasse sentenced Randy Felton, 125 N. Bromley Ave., to two to six years in prison, along with 20 years of probation.
Before he was led away by sheriff's deputies, the 50-year-old man drew the ire of Judge Barrasse when the judge asked him if he realized the severity of his crime because during a pre-sentence investigation it appeared he thought otherwise.
"I never touched anybody," said Mr. Felton, drawing a sharp rebuke from the judge.
"He answered it right now," Judge Barrasse said. "It's not the severity to you. It's the severity (to) the victims you don't realize."
The judge reminded Mr. Felton that he downloaded images of children from ages 4 to 8 being sexually abused.
When county Detective Justin Leri and state Trooper Michael Gownley interviewed Mr. Felton at his home, he admitted he had been downloading illicit images and videos "for years," according to arrest papers.
He was charged on May 30 with 18 felonies related to child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility.
By the time investigators had interviewed Mr. Felton, they were already aware he possessed several videos of children being sexually abused.
They downloaded six videos stored on his computer through a peer-to-peer file-sharing program, arrest papers stated.
Investigators then obtained his hard drive after executing a search warrant at his home.
On the hard drive, they recovered numerous child pornography videos, including one investigators downloaded during their undercover investigation, according to arrest papers.
Mr. Felton pleaded guilty in September to three counts of disseminating photos and films of child sex acts, three counts of child pornography and three counts of criminal use of a communication facility, all felony offenses.
He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 25 years and is forbidden from using the Internet.
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