LAWFUEL – US Attorney News – A former deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department was sentenced today to 42 months in federal prison for having approximately 1 million images and videos of child pornography on his home computer and computer media.
Patrick Francis Calcagno, 49, of Murietta, was sentenced late this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles. Calcagno was sentenced pursuant to a guilty plea he entered last July to one count of possession of child pornography.
The child pornography was found on Calcagno’s computer and compact discs when federal investigators executed a search warrant as his residence in May 2004. Calcagno was indicted in March 2006.
The case against Calcagno stems from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that targeted Regpay, a Belarus-based Internet billing firm that was providing credit card billing services for 50 child pornography websites worldwide and operating child porn websites on its own. Having dismantled the leadership of the enterprise, ICE agents turned their focus to those who purchased child porn subscriptions from these sites in the U.S. and abroad. So far, more than 1,200 individuals have been arrested worldwide in the investigation.
According to a plea agreement filed in this case, Calcagno knew that the images were pornographic and knew that some of them depicted children under 12 years of age. The images depicted, in graphic detail, numerous young children – many prepubescent and some merely toddlers – being subjected to explicit sexual conduct and sexual acts involving both adults and other children, as well as to bestiality and bondage.
Calcagno, who left the Orange County Sheriff’s Department last March, was sentenced by United States District Judge A. Howard Matz. In addition to the prison term, Judge Matz ordered Calcagno to pay a $10,000 fine and to serve five years on supervised released following his release from prison. Additionally, Calcagno will be required to register as a sex offender.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
CONTACT: Assistant United States Attorney Brian R. Michael
(213) 894-0340
Release No. 07-043
