U.S. judge sentences Monroe man to life term for child porn

8/11/2010

DETROIT - A Monroe man who took pornographic pictures of a young girl and distributed them on the Internet was ordered by a federal judge to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

James Frazee, 53, a registered sex offender in Michigan, was given a mandatory life sentence by U.S. District Judge David Lawson on Monday.

Frazee pleaded guilty April 6 to sexual exploitation of children. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed one count of activities regarding material constituting or containing child pornography.

In January a home that Frazee and Patricia Podgajski, 45, shared in Monroe was raided. The couple became the focus of a federal investigation after images of a girl engaged in sexually explicit conduct were found in a computer from a home in Jackson, Tenn.

The photos were traced to an Internet site that Frazee maintained from 2003 to 2007 to distribute child pornography.

Frazee told the court that the abuse of the girl began seven years ago when he was paid $350 to take pornographic photos of the 8-year-old girl in his home and sent the images through the Internet to a contact in New York.

Podgajski was indicted federally for sexual exploitation of children. The federal charge was dismissed in June at the request of prosecutors.

She was charged in Monroe County with second-degree child abuse, a felony. She pleaded guilty July 2 to the charge and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in Monroe County Circuit Court.