“These were real children. There were actual victims.”
That was the message of Assistant Union County Prosecutor Andrew Bigler at the recent sentencing of Ian F. McCarty.
MCCARTY
In December, McCarty, 29, of 7 Hillcrest Dr., Marysville, pleaded guilty to two counts of pandering sexually-oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person and two counts of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance.
Bigler explained that investigators with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children were able to identify at least three of the children in McCarty’s pictures.
Visiting Judge Mark O’Connor recently ordered McCarty, to serve a prison sentence of between four years and 11 months and five years and 11 months.
O’Connor said that by structuring the sentence with a minimum of less than five years, McCarty can apply for early release in as few as 180 days.
“The court is impressed with your attitude,” O’Connor told McCarty. “Keep it up and perhaps you may not have to serve the entirety of your sentence.”
The judge explained that, “whether or not you get judicial release is dependent upon your record while in the institution.”
When he is released, McCarty will be required to register as a Tier 2 sex offender every 180 days for the next 25 years.
If he is released early, he will likely go to a community based correctional facility before being ultimately released. Additionally, he could be on community control for as many as five years after his release from prison.
Defense Attorney Joshua Peistrup argued that at the time of the offense, McCarty was grieving for the loss of a brother that had died.
“He didn’t have a good way to sort of process his grief,” Peistrup said, explaining that McCarty also began using drugs and developed some mental health concerns.
“He just sort of isolated himself and withdrew,” Peistrup said.
The defense attorney said McCarty needs help with his mental health, but is no longer a risk to the public. He said McCarty has no real criminal record and asked the judge to impose community control rather than prison.
“He is a young man,” Peistrup said. “He has taken full responsibility for his actions here. He was cooperative with law enforcement. He is very remorseful for what has happened.”
Bigler said there is a precedent in similar cases for prison time to be imposed.
“That is not the extent of what he possessed,” Bigler said. “There were substantially more images, but the state felt that what we charged was appropriate.”
McCarty said he never meant to hurt anybody.
“I definitely acknowledge there are real victims in this case,” McCarty said. “Whether they know what I did or not does not excuse my behavior.”
He explained that he was going through a difficult time.
“I think in addition to my substance abuse, my depression at the time along with my complacent lifestyle, all these factors led me down a bad road,” McCarty told the judge.
O’Connor said McCarty does not fit the profile of someone likely to reoffend, adding that recidivism is actually “unlikely.”
The investigation began with information from the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Taskforce in April. ICAC officials said they found child pornography being uploaded to the internet.
Local investigators reviewed the information provided by ICAC, which had already issued a subpoena to determine the uploads were occurring at 7 Hillcrest Drive, in Hillcrest Mobile Home Park.
In April, local and ICAC officials executed a search warrant at the home.
During the search, McCarty told investigators that he had entered the dark web on a few occasions using an invite-only online service called Discord. He admitted there were times he clicked on what he termed as a “questionable site.” He said he had a group of friends online that were interested in pornography.
McCarty told investigators he was feeling suicidal and was taken to Maryhaven for mental health treatment.
Investigators removed a computer and several hard drives. The electronics were sent to the Ohio State Police computer crime lab.
When officials received the report from state police, it indicated the computer contained dozens of sexually graphic images involving a “toddler” and an adult man. The photos included both boys and girls. Additionally, there were dozens of other photos where investigators could not determine the age of the child and hundreds of computer-generated images of children engaged in sexual acts.
Investigators found more than 16,600 key word searches for “child pornography associated terms.”
While investigating information found as part of the search warrant, ICAC contacted Marysville Police to notify them McCarty was still allegedly engaging in the behavior.
Shortly after, McCarty was arrested without incident at his home as police served another search warrant.
Police stressed that pandering obscenity of a minor is more than just possessing child pornography. Pandering is when a person creates, reproduces, buys, sells, trades, advertises or publicly distributes or displays obscene material of a child.