Airman sentenced to 4 years in child porn case

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Airman sentenced to 4 years in child porn case
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, January 25, 2008

MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — A technical sergeant received four years of confinement and a dishonorable discharge after pleading guilty Wednesday to possessing and distributing via e-mail images of child pornography.

During his one-day court-martial at Misawa, John Davis also was found guilty of attempting to communicate indecent language to a child under the age of 16.

Davis, who most recently was assigned to the 35th Operations Support Squadron, also was reduced in rank to E-1 and ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances. Military officials said he would lose his retirement and other benefits associated with the military after a career spanning just more than 19 years.

Davis was caught after he entered an online chat room with a person whose profile said she was a 14-year-old girl from Ohio who liked boys. Davis at the time was on temporary duty to Las Vegas. He used his personal laptop to communicate with the individual for about an hour, using sexually explicit language, according to court testimony Wednesday. He mentioned he was in the Air Force and e-mailed the person a photo of him standing in front of an F-16 fighter jet.

The 14-year-old was actually an undercover detective. Davis’ attorney, Capt. Jonathan Wasden, said Davis believed the person was an adult and the two were engaged in role-playing.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51889