Man gets 30 years for child exploitation

Staff report

pittsburgh

A New Castle, Pa., man was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Thursday for violating federal child exploitation laws.

Michael Penwell, 41, of East Lincoln Avenue pleaded guilty in March to three counts of child exploitation. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release, said Margaret Philbin of the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Pittsburgh.

The law provided for a sentence of 15 to 60 years and a $750,000 fine. He was not fined, Philbin said.

Craig W. Haller, assistant U.S. attorney, said Penwell produced, transported and possessed visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct between January 2008 and Oct. 16, 2008.

In another case, New Castle resident Todd D. Covert, 46, pleaded guilty Wednesday in the federal court to a charge of possession of child pornography. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman said that on July 8, 2009, Pennsylvania State Police seized a computer and CDs at Covert’s residence.

An examination of the material showed that Covert had 17 videos and 168 still images of child pornography that had been downloaded from the Internet, Kaufman said.

Sentencing is set for 11 a.m. Oct. 26. Covert could be sentenced to as many as 10 years in prison and could be fined $250,000.