Clay County man sentenced for receiving child porn

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 46-year-old Green Cove Springs man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Gregory Michael McCarty was also ordered to serve a 10-year term of supervision following his release from prison, and to register as a sex offender.

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At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, McCarty was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to await designation to a federal facility.

According to court documents, an agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Jacksonville began an undercover investigation to identify individuals in that area that had access to and/or were trading images and videos depicting child pornography over the Internet. The agent determined that a computer in the northeast Florida area was hosting images of child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing program. The agent was able to download several files from this computer. Further investigation traced the computer to McCarty's residence in Green Cove Springs.

Law enforcement officers subsequently executed a federal search warrant at McCarty's residence and seized several computers and other electronic media. During an interview with agents, McCarty acknowledged that he had been receiving child pornography for about two years, stating that he had some on his external drives "for a long time." He stated, "I fell into it and never got rid of it and never quit."

McCarty further stated, "I know it was wrong, I just didn't get rid of it and didn't, didn't stop doing whatever I was doing."

The forensic analyses of the seized equipment revealed that McCarty's computer media contained at least 18 images and at least 20 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children.

This case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Clay County Sheriff's Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.