WESTFIELD – Richard Starr, 56, of 46 King St., was sentenced to a 42-month term of incarceration after he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of child pornography in Springfield’s U.S. District Court.
The sentence stems from an investigation by federal agents which began in early 2007 of persons who had accessed websites “that were producing and selling videos containing child pornography”, according to the criminal complaint filed against Starr.
That investigation led federal agents to Starr’s home on July 17, 2008, where Starr admitted that he had purchased memberships on child pornography web sites and had downloaded pictures and videos from those sites.
In a press release issued by the District of Massachusetts office of the United States Attorney’s Office, agents report that when they asked Starr for consent to search his home he said “chances are you’ll find something.”
However, Starr called a family member who is an attorney and ultimately declined to consent to the search of his home so the federal agents turned to the city police for help.
Det. Sgt. Raymond Manos has since retired but on that evening in 2008 he was in command of the city’s Detective Bureau.
He and Det. Roxanne Bradley secured the King Street residence with FBI special agents Andrew Litowitz and Mary Geha until a search warrant was secured. The investigators then searched the home and seized computers and computer media.
The evidence was transported to the station where it was stored for about three and a half years until the FBI investigators secured a warrant, on Jan. 12, 2012, to examine the seized material.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Oritz, with FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, later announced in a press release what was learned.
The release reports that the forensic examination of the computers revealed “tens of thousands of digital image and video files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct” most of which were saved in password-protected directories with suggestive titles such as “CandyDolls”, “eternal-nymphets” or “Preteen Heaven.”
Starr agreed, in August, 2012, to plead guilty to a single count of possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors.
In May, 2013, Starr was sentenced.
The 42-month term in federal prison will be followed by ten years of supervised release.
In addition, Starr was ordered to pay restitution of $3,800 and to forfeit various computer media.
