MONROE - A Belleville man was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for possessing child pornography, with no family or friends present except an adult daughter who chose to wait in the hallway outside the courtroom during the hearing.
Michael John Owen, 49, is also ordered to spend five years on extended supervision after his prison sentence and to pay a restitution of $5,000 to one of his victims. He pleaded guilty in March to three Class D felony charges of child pornography possession. Each Class D felony carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
As part of a plea deal, four additional counts were dismissed but "read in," meaning the judge could consider them at sentencing.
Green County Judge James Beer called the crime "inexcusable," adding that children "have a right to feel protected in society."
Children in the graphic porn images and videos that Owen downloaded and, in one case, shared are suffering "lifetime harms that are just not going to go away," Beer said. He advised Owen to "make the most of your incarceration and your time in custody."
Beer's prison sentence is a year longer than the sentence handed down in January by Green County's other judge in a similar yet bigger case. Judge Thomas Vale sentenced former Orangeville math teacher Timothy Gordon Hoffman, 44, to three years in prison, the mandatory minimum incarceration for a conviction of possessing child porn.
Like Owen, Hoffman was convicted on three Class D felony charges. But Hoffman's case involved a much more extensive collection of porn, including about 9,500 photos and 1,500 videos and a "guide on grooming children" as young as 7. He had 26 additional felony child porn charges dismissed but "read in."
However, Hoffman was ordered to spend two years longer than Owen on extended supervision, bringing his total sentence to 10 years. Owen's total sentence is nine years.
The two came to the attention of law enforcement around the same time, although their cases do not appear to be otherwise connected, according to court records.
An identical image of child porn downloaded by both men in the fall of 2016 was flagged by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), a national network of law enforcement agencies tracking online child abuse and exploitation. This discovery led to search warrants on the men's homes.
Most of the porn in Owen's collection involved girls between the ages of 5 to 10, according to descriptions in the criminal complaint. In one video, an adult man can be heard instructing a girl what to do. In another image, a young girl being raped appears to be sleeping or unconscious.
Investigators also found porn involving infants in Owen's collection, said Green County Assistant District Attorney Laura Kohl.
Kohl said nothing indicates that Owen sought out actual contact with children, but by the account of several people interviewed by investigators, Owen "seemed interested in younger girls," "liked younger ladies" and had pursued inappropriate adult relationships. He has no current or recent partner, Kohl said.
Most troubling to Kohl has been Owen's reluctance to identify his use of child porn as harmful or to accept full responsibility for his actions.
"You don't get hundreds of images of child pornography by accident," she said.
She referred to the stack of victim statements filed with the case. The children in the images and videos in Owen's collection, many of whom are now adults, described lives of seclusion, daily reminders of their victimization, fear of being recognized when they leave home and high costs for mental health treatment.
She asked for an initial incarceration of five years in the case.
Defense attorney Brian Severson argued for the mandatory minimum of three years, pointing to Owen's clean criminal record and history of steady employment, mostly with the military.
Kohl had mentioned earlier that Owen's daughter didn't believe the charges against her father, and Severson countered that the daughter's reaction was understandable. He said she wanted to be there for her father, even if not in the courtroom.
"I think it's a little unfair to criticize her," he said. "She's out in the hallway. It was very difficult for her to accept (her father's actions), which is understandable."
Severson said Owen, from the beginning, "was appropriately ashamed, he was appropriately embarrassed."
At first, Severson conceded that Owen didn't fully understand the children in the pornography were real people.
"That's hitting him now. That's what incarceration is going to be about," Severson said.
When given the opportunity to speak, Owen apologized.
"I do apologize for my actions. I do understand that the people in the images are victims. I do realize that now and I apologize to them for that," he said.
Michael John Owen, 49, is also ordered to spend five years on extended supervision after his prison sentence and to pay a restitution of $5,000 to one of his victims. He pleaded guilty in March to three Class D felony charges of child pornography possession. Each Class D felony carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
As part of a plea deal, four additional counts were dismissed but "read in," meaning the judge could consider them at sentencing.
Green County Judge James Beer called the crime "inexcusable," adding that children "have a right to feel protected in society."
Children in the graphic porn images and videos that Owen downloaded and, in one case, shared are suffering "lifetime harms that are just not going to go away," Beer said. He advised Owen to "make the most of your incarceration and your time in custody."
Beer's prison sentence is a year longer than the sentence handed down in January by Green County's other judge in a similar yet bigger case. Judge Thomas Vale sentenced former Orangeville math teacher Timothy Gordon Hoffman, 44, to three years in prison, the mandatory minimum incarceration for a conviction of possessing child porn.
Like Owen, Hoffman was convicted on three Class D felony charges. But Hoffman's case involved a much more extensive collection of porn, including about 9,500 photos and 1,500 videos and a "guide on grooming children" as young as 7. He had 26 additional felony child porn charges dismissed but "read in."
However, Hoffman was ordered to spend two years longer than Owen on extended supervision, bringing his total sentence to 10 years. Owen's total sentence is nine years.
The two came to the attention of law enforcement around the same time, although their cases do not appear to be otherwise connected, according to court records.
An identical image of child porn downloaded by both men in the fall of 2016 was flagged by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), a national network of law enforcement agencies tracking online child abuse and exploitation. This discovery led to search warrants on the men's homes.
Most of the porn in Owen's collection involved girls between the ages of 5 to 10, according to descriptions in the criminal complaint. In one video, an adult man can be heard instructing a girl what to do. In another image, a young girl being raped appears to be sleeping or unconscious.
Investigators also found porn involving infants in Owen's collection, said Green County Assistant District Attorney Laura Kohl.
Kohl said nothing indicates that Owen sought out actual contact with children, but by the account of several people interviewed by investigators, Owen "seemed interested in younger girls," "liked younger ladies" and had pursued inappropriate adult relationships. He has no current or recent partner, Kohl said.
Most troubling to Kohl has been Owen's reluctance to identify his use of child porn as harmful or to accept full responsibility for his actions.
"You don't get hundreds of images of child pornography by accident," she said.
She referred to the stack of victim statements filed with the case. The children in the images and videos in Owen's collection, many of whom are now adults, described lives of seclusion, daily reminders of their victimization, fear of being recognized when they leave home and high costs for mental health treatment.
She asked for an initial incarceration of five years in the case.
Defense attorney Brian Severson argued for the mandatory minimum of three years, pointing to Owen's clean criminal record and history of steady employment, mostly with the military.
Kohl had mentioned earlier that Owen's daughter didn't believe the charges against her father, and Severson countered that the daughter's reaction was understandable. He said she wanted to be there for her father, even if not in the courtroom.
"I think it's a little unfair to criticize her," he said. "She's out in the hallway. It was very difficult for her to accept (her father's actions), which is understandable."
Severson said Owen, from the beginning, "was appropriately ashamed, he was appropriately embarrassed."
At first, Severson conceded that Owen didn't fully understand the children in the pornography were real people.
"That's hitting him now. That's what incarceration is going to be about," Severson said.
When given the opportunity to speak, Owen apologized.
"I do apologize for my actions. I do understand that the people in the images are victims. I do realize that now and I apologize to them for that," he said.