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Underage porn cases net prison time
YOUNGSTOWN
Two Mahoning County men were sent to prison Wednesday in underage-pornography cases.
A 57-year-old city man was sentenced to nine years after he pleaded guilty to one count of pandering obscenity involving a minor and two counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.
Robert C. Dash Jr. drew the sentence from Judge Shirley J. Christian of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Dash was indicted in August 2015 on charges he possessed material depicting minors engaged in sexual activity.
The charges stemmed from a May 1, 2015, search of Dash’s Matta Avenue home by agents of the FBI and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The prosecution recommended nine years in prison for Dash.
“This defendant is not accidentally stumbling upon these items,” said Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor.
“He is going through a very purposeful search,” she said, submitting 15 pages of child-porn searches from Dash’s computer to the judge.
Dash’s lawyer, Walter Ritchie, called for a lesser punishment, saying his client had no prior criminal convictions, has potential for rehabilitation and has significant health problems.
“I’m sorry that this has all been brought up before the court,” Dash told the judge, adding that he accidentally downloaded, and immediately deleted, one child- pornography image.
More than 12 people had access to his wireless Internet router, he told the judge.
“This kind of activity creates serious, devastating effects on the children every day,” Judge Christian said.
“That stuff is out there on the Internet forever,” she added.
“The only way that we have to stop it is to punish the people that are promoting it,” she said.
Each count against Dash carried a maximum penalty of eight years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
The prosecution dropped six additional counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor in the plea deal with Dash.
In another matter, Douglas M. Miner, 43, of West Middletown Road, Beloit, drew a two-year prison term from Judge John M. Durkin in a pornography case involving a minor.
Miner had pleaded guilty to one count of attempted pandering obscenity involving a minor, three counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and one count of tampering with evidence dating back to February 2014.
In Miner’s case, the prosecution called for a prison term deemed appropriate by the judge, but it didn’t specify a recommended length of incarceration.
Miner’s lawyer, Rhys Cartwright-Jones, asked for probation, saying Miner has no prior criminal record.
Miner made a nude video of a 16-year-old girl on his cellphone, while he was charging it in a restroom, where she showered, then made still pictures from it, then tried to remotely delete his cellphone contents electronically, while it was in the custody of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, McLaughlin told the judge. “I want him to serve his time for his crime and not walk the streets, making others afraid or worried that what he did may happen again,” the victim, now 19, told the judge.
“Placing you on a period of community control [probation] would completely undermine the purposes and principles of sentencing,” Judge Durkin told Miner after Miner apologized for his crimes.
“It would not adequately protect the public or punish you,” he added.
Dash and Miner must register as sex offenders every 180 days for 25 years.