Findlay man sentenced to prison for child porn

2/27/2007

A Findlay man who traded child pornography with other Internet subscribers of America Online was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Toledo to nearly six years in prison.

Paul Joseph Gray, 47, was sentenced by Judge James Carr to serve a sentence of five years and 10 months at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility.

Gray pleaded guilty in August to felony possession of child pornography.

The charge stems from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the widespread distribution of child pornography on America Online.

Authorities seized a computer, disks, and other equipment during a search of Gray's home in August and found 22 video clips and 599 images of children being sexually exploited.

The distribution of the files stems from the activities of Gray and other computer users in an AOL chat room last March.

Upon his release from prison, Gray will be on supervised release for the rest of his life and will not be allowed to have contact with children.

Judge Carr said the sentence was one of the most severe to be imposed in the district court for child pornography, but the punishment was necessary, in part, to deter others and to protect the community.