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Man, 75, convicted on child porn charges

News-Topic - 12/19/2019

Dec. 18--A jury in U.S. District Court in Statesville convicted a Boone man on federal child pornography charges Wednesday.

Thomas Arthur Rittenhouse, 75, was accused of using peer-to-peer computer networks from 2014 to 2017 to obtain dozens of videos depicting children being sexually abused and to make the videos available for download by others, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray of the Western District of North Carolina.

"This defendant sought out, possessed, and transported images of the rape and abuse of children for his sordid personal use," Murray said.

Evidence at trial showed that the computer Rittenhouse used reflected that Rittenhouse had used search terms associated with child abuse material to seek out videos and images, the press release said. A forensic analysis of video files from his computer showed adult men sexually abusing prepubescent children.

Rittenhouse was convicted of two counts of transporting child pornography, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count, plus a $250,000 fine. He was also convicted of one count of possessing child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor or a minor under the age of 25, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison plus a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date was not announced.

Rittenhouse had served time in prison in the 1960s for killing a sheriff's deputy in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, in 1963. An Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial website says Rittenhouse had been arrested for being AWOL from an Air Force Base in Kansas. The officers took a Winchester rifle from Rittenhouse when he was arrested but did not see a .25-caliber pistol he was carrying in a shoulder holster. While Rittenhouse was riding in the back seat of the patrol car with his hands cuffed in front of him, he pulled out the pistol and shot Deputy Odos Neal Smith four times.

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