BOSTON - A Peabody man was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for receipt and possession of child pornography.
Patrick Lynch, 24, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to six years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. Upon release, Lynch must register as a sex offender. In June 2016, Lynch pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Beginning in May 2013, Lynch began receiving emails containing images and videos of children as young as one-year-old being sexually exploited. On Dec. 12, 2014, during the execution of a search warrant at his residence, Lynch admitted to law enforcement officers that he received emails containing pictures of elementary school-aged children naked, posing, and engaging in sexual acts. He admitted to viewing images of child pornography on a website and to viewing child pornography on his laptop while at a Boy Scout camp in New Mexico. Lynch also communicated online with children and exchanged sexually explicit images. Prior to law enforcement executing the search warrant, Lynch deleted the application and cleared his phone’s Internet history.
A further investigation revealed that Lynch had been employed at the Greater Beverly YMCA, and had recently begun employment with Beanstalk Adventure Ropes Course in Reading, Mass.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Peabody Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Jacobus of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.
The case is brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In 2006, the Department of Justice created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
