Friday, August 26, 2011
PITTSBURGH
William “Scott” Kennedy, former longtime Y-103 morning disc jockey, has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.
Senior U.S. District Judge Alan N. Bloch imposed the sentence, which also includes a lifetime of supervised release and a $25,000 fine, Thursday on Kennedy, 55, of Hermitage, Pa.
“Every time a sexually-explicit image of a minor is produced, transmitted or viewed by these predators, a child is victimized,” said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge in the Philadelphia office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, which investigated the case.
“Those who believe they can hide behind their stature in the community are mistaken. They will be held accountable for their actions,” Kelleghan said.
In Kennedy’s case, 22 people, including locally prominent broadcast personalities and bank executives, wrote testimonial letters to the judge praising Kennedy’s character and charitable endeavors and calling for favorable sentencing consideration for him.
But Judge Bloch refused to depart from the 51- to 63-month prison term called for in federal sentencing guidelines, which gave Kennedy credit for accepting responsibility in his guilty plea.
Kennedy, who had been jailed since his May 3 plea, could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and fined up to $250,000, or both.
On Monday, Judge Bloch ordered Kennedy to pay $3,550 in restitution to one of his victims.
Federal investigators first became aware of Kennedy in an Internet chat room, then searched his home, seized his computer and discovered the illegal files in December 2009. The files included three videos and 238 images, including some of children under age 12.
Federal court documents say some of this material showed minors engaged in sex acts and that the FBI was able to identify 19 victims from Kennedy’s videos and images.