First-time offender gets jail term in child porn case

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.

District Judge Nancy Saitta sent a message Wednesday with an unusual sentence for a man who used a computer at the Nevada Division of Welfare to download child pornography -- even first-time offenders can face jail time.

Saitta sentenced 41-year-old Mark Turner to 90 days in jail and then a fixed five-year term of probation for four counts of possession of visual presentation depicting sexual conduct of a person under 16 years of age.

If Turner violates his probation he will serve one to six years in prison.

Additionally Turner will have to register as a sex offender and be placed on lifelong supervision.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said he was pleased Saitta's sentencing of Turner pointed out that downloading child pornography is "not a victimless crime and the people who download child pornography are part of the problem."

Gardner said there wouldn't be child pornography and the abuse, rape, kidnapping and murder of children associated with it if it weren't for the people who "buy, trade, traffic or download it."

Turner, with his long graying brown hair tied in a ponytail, sat in the back of the court while awaiting his sentencing, shaking as he held his wife.

In arguing for prison time for Turner, Gardner said although Turner admitted to having an interest in 13- and 14-year-old girls, he was caught with images of children from the age of 2 through 8 on his office computer.

Gardner said investigators reported Turner has "convinced his wife his fetish is OK and she didn't object."

Turner's attorney, Karen Winkler, rejected Gardner's assertion. Winkler said that when Turner's wife of 19 years found out about his crimes, she made it clear what he "had to do to stay in this marriage."

Winkler said since being arrested Turner has sat down with his children and told them what he has done, has rid his home of all computers and has been attending counseling sessions. Although Winkler had hoped Turner would not serve any prison time she said Saitta's sentence was "far better then it could have been."

Turner, who now works part time in construction remodeling, said he was "truly remorseful for the children whose images he downloaded" and asked for a chance via probation because "I love my family and I have always been there for them."

Saitta said she was "in a real difficult spot" as she sentenced Turner due to the fact that he had said his "interest in 14- and 15-year-old girls is new."

Saitta told Turner's wife that she would "likely have to blow the whistle" on her husband if he did anything related to child pornography at the home "despite how good a job his probation officer would do."

Turner's wife briefly addressed the court saying that "everyone needs a chance" and that she blamed her husband for what has happened. Saitta cut her short of finishing her statement after she began to lay the blame partly on "the Internet society."

Saitta told her, "No one is to blame but your husband."

Gardner said Turner's activity was discovered after technicians were trying to fix what they thought was a virus on Turner's computer. As they attempted to determine was wrong they came across Web sites that involved child pornography. Turner served as a supply clerk and had his own office equipped with a computer.

Gardner said computer forensics examiners from the Attorney General's office confiscated the computer and after looking at the hard drive found hundreds of pornographic images of children.

Gardner said Turner would have faced many more counts in this case, but he could only be charged for the images the state could prove he downloaded himself. Gardner said the forensics team only found 17 images that Turner actively downloaded onto his hard drive. The other images were types of files that could have downloaded themselves.

Gardner said the plea bargain with Turner, which reduced the number of charges he faced drop from 17 to 4, made sense because Turner is facing a maximum of 24 years in prison under the deal. Gardner said it would have been difficult to convince a jury to find Turner guilty of all 17 charges and subsequently Turner might have faced a lesser sentence.

Turner was arrested June 24 and at that time gave authorities permission to search his home. The search resulted in the discovery of more child pornography on Turner's home computer.

In exchange for his guilty plea before Saitta, prosecutors agreed to not charge Turner with the images found on his personal computer -- at this time.