Seven years imposed for child porn

Marvin Turner Rideout III revealed that as a child, he bore the brunt of sexual abuse from his late mother and the mother’s drug dealer. For most of his adult life, he said, those memories lurked in the deep, forgotten recesses of his mind. And only after stumbling upon child pornography on his computer did visions of what happened during his childhood begin to resurface.

The New Kent County resident’s foray into the illegal realm of child pornography did not go unnoticed, catching the attention of investigators with the Bedford, Va.-based Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Acting on information supplied by the task force, New Kent sheriff’s personnel raided Rideout’s North Courthouse Road home on Dec. 16, 2011, seizing computers and devices containing close to 2,000 child pornography images.

After building their case, authorities arrested Rideout the following March on 40 possession and three distribution charges, and he has spent the last 10 months in jail. At trial last August in New Kent Circuit Court and under terms of a plea deal, he entered conditional Alford pleas of guilty to 20 possession counts. The remaining charges were dropped.

Sentencing took place Monday. At times choking back tears, Rideout, 45, testified about the abuse, both sexual and physical, absorbed during his youth. When his mother died three years ago, he began recalling fragments of what transpired, he said, adding that spending almost a year in jail has brought back more.

But despite his account and pleas by his attorney, Todd Duval, to limit punishment to time in jail already served, Judge Thomas B. Hoover agreed with an assessment voiced by prosecutor Linwood Gregory.

“Mr. Rideout may have been a victim as a child, but he has made other children victims by his actions,” Gregory told the court in recommending an active prison sentence of seven years.

Hoover imposed five years in prison, all to serve, on one count. On a second, he suspended three years of a five-year sentence for an active total of seven years. On the remaining 18 counts, the judge handed out five years on each, all suspended. The suspended time hangs over Rideout’s head for the next 25 years.

“When you look at this garbage, you are encouraging others to manufacture child pornography for you and others to look at,” Hoover told the defendant.

Earlier during Monday’s hearing, Rideout said he saw himself in the pornography images that featured young boys. He said he spent 20-40 hours a week viewing images and confessed to a pornography addiction, especially the adult version.

“Once I accidentally saw the first child pornography image, the memories came back,” he said.

Both Hoover and Gregory pressed the defendant on why he neglected to seek professional help until after his arrest.

“I was ashamed,” Rideout answered. “I didn’t want anyone to know about my home life.”

Matters changed after authorities arrested him on the pornography charges, he added.

“The secret was gone,” he said. “All the shame was still there, but the secret was out. It was exposed. I want to put this to rest. I want to put this in the past.”

A licensed clinical psychologist called by the defense gave credence to Rideout’s story. Dr. Kevin McWilliams told the court that children who suffer abuse at an early age typically repress the memories and stick with that strategy for a lifetime.

In Rideout’s case, McWilliams said, the defendant suffers from low level depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, but is not psychotic.

“Clearly as a child, he’s a victim,” McWilliams said. “He could benefit from therapy, and there’s no history of him acting it out.

“He’s addicted to looking at pornography, and he has a level of shame because he knows it’s wrong,” the psychologist added.

Hoover questioned McWilliams concerning the validity of a sex offender evaluation report that listed the defendant as low risk to offend in the future. The judge also posed the possibility that Rideout made up the abuse story in order to draw sympathy.

McWilliams said those conducting evaluations are experts in their fields, adding, “I’m confident that he has been sexually abused by his mother and the drug dealer.”

Duval argued for no further jail time for his client, saying, “Every young face in those photos is Marvin Rideout. This is not someone who did this because it turned him on. He was a victim.”

“I really want to work and prove to the court my sincerity,” Rideout told Hoover just before sentencing. “I’m willing to do anything the court requires and go above and beyond. I want to be happy, your honor.”

In addition to prison time, Hoover ordered the defendant to register as a sex offender with the Virginia State Police and undergo sex offender treatment. Rideout is to have no contact with anyone under age 18, including his two daughters, ages 8 and 14, unless granted permission by his probation officer. The defendant must report all incidental contact with children, stay at least 500 feet away from schools and places where children congregate, refrain from viewing any pornography, and not access the Internet unless job-related.

Afterward, Duval expressed disappointment with the sentence, but said the decision came as no surprise.

“I don’t think he should have gotten anything but time served, but I can understand Judge Hoover’s position,” he said. “As bad as it was, he was not distributing or producing it and not victimizing anyone by his own hand. He’s not a threat to society, and that was the focus of my sentencing argument.”

The three distribution charges actually stemmed from investigators downloading material from his client’s computer, he said, pointing to that as a reason why those charges were dropped.

Duval said his client plans an appeal to the state’s appellate court over privacy concerns. A computer expert examined Rideout’s computer and found the defendant tried but failed to block outside access, he said.

“It’s whether he had a reasonable expectation of privacy,” the attorney said. “[Rideout] believed legitimately that his system was closed and it was not.”

Gregory, meanwhile, said he doesn’t expect Rideout’s appeal to be successful. He also expressed satisfaction with the sentence.

“From the beginning, I had a goal of an active sentence of approximately seven years,” he said. “Mr. Duval did a good job trying to help his client out, but you punish for the crime, not for what he’s likely to do in the future.”