The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on July 31, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, SETH PATRICK DURNAM, a resident of Bozeman, was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 52 months
Special Assessment: $100
Supervised Release: 10 years
DURNAM was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to possession of child pornography.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara J. Elliott, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On November 8, 2010, DURNAM was at a residence in Bozeman for a job interview.
On Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010, the homeowner found a 2GB SD card in his driveway. The homeowner called his father who had visited earlier in the day to inquire if the card was his. His father replied that it was not and suggested that he view the images on the card to identify the owner. He did so and found hundreds of images of child pornography, that he described as "naked, under-age boys." When scrolling through the images, the homeowner found a picture of DURNAM, whom he recognized from the earlier job interview. The homeowner contacted law enforcement and turned over the card.
When interviewed by a detective the next day, DURNAM admitted that he "did like images of younger boys" but claimed it was earlier in his life. When the SD card was examined, approximately 300 sexually explicit images and 5 movies of nude prepubescent and early teen boys were found on the card. The images had been copied to the SD card on April 21, 2010, by means of another device. There were also several pictures of DURNAM on the card.
DURNAM possessed images and movies of children clearly prepubescent and children engaged in sadistic or masochistic abuse or other depictions of violence.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that DURNAM will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, DURNAM does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
The investigation was conducted by the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
