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According to officials, a man from central Florida has been sentenced to 885 years in prison for possessing “massive” amounts of child porn. The verdict concerning the accused was handed down by Seminole County judge Marlene Alva on Monday.
Shawn Ryan Thomas, 32, is also facing accusations for having plotted a sexual assault against a 9-year old girl, with the intention to kill her and her parents afterwards.
For now, the sentencing pronounced this week concerned just accusations related to child pornography. Back in June, the man had been found guilty of 60 counts related to possessing materials depicting sexually explicit conduct involving minors.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement initially suspected Thomas, after he shared his murderous plans with an undisclosed source, who later informed police officers. The man had premeditated to bring a girl and her parents to a vacant residence in Longwood, while falsely claiming he was a student shooting an independent film.
The southwest Florida family had actually accepted this invitation, but when the girl’s grandfather entered the house he got suspicious and urged the others to leave immediately.
Thomas’s intentions had been to slay the girl’s relatives, videotape himself while raping the child and afterwards murder her also.
The anonymous informant had also tipped off authorities that the man’s objective was to repeat this criminal plot with several families, in order to produce a DVD containing child pornography, and sell it afterwards.
Following these allegations, investigators arrested the man last summer, and confiscated his belongings. The objects included a computer, which had been placed on the culprit’s bed.
Upon accessing this device, authorities discovered 60 images and videos depicting child pornography. Some of the footage was one hour long, according to law enforcement.
Thomas’s lawyer initially insisted that the computer belonged to one of the accused’s roommates. However, after 3 hours of deliberation the jury panel came to the conclusion that the device was actually owned by the defendant.
Every separate count corresponded to a maximum penalty of 15 years behind bars, and the Seminole County judge sentenced him to prison for 59 of these statements, amounting to a total of 885 years of jail time. On the last count, the culprit was condemned to 15 years of sex offender probation.
It is expected that Thomas will also be facing a criminal lawsuit at a later date on the other charges, which include attempted kidnapping, attempted child rape and attempted murder. For now, no trial date has been fixed regarding these accusations.
Image Source: WFTV
