Two Las Vegans sentenced in separate child porn cases

By Jinae West

Tuesday, July 28, 2009 | 5:46 p.m.

Two people have been sentenced in unrelated cases on child pornography charges in Las Vegas.

Richard Chase, 47, will serve more than 24 years behind bars for the possession of hundreds of images of child pornography in his home and traveling from Nevada to Utah to engage in sex with a 15-year-old boy, U.S. attorney for Nevada Greg Brower said.

In December 2005, FBI agents searched Chase's home and recovered two computers and computer storage media. Following a forensic examination of the storage disc, agents found encrypted files that contained more than 400 images of child pornography, Brower said. Chase was charged with possession and receipt of child pornography.

In October 2007, authorities interviewed the 16-year-old son of the defendant's former girlfriend. The boy reported Chase had sexually molested him for several years and said that in December 2005, Chase drove from Las Vegas to Utah to engage in sexual acts with him, Brower said. The boy was 15 at the time.

Chase was convicted in 1994 in California for committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He served four years.

In a separate case, Susan Dean, 43, of Las Vegas was sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime supervised release on a charge of receipt of child pornography, which she pleaded guilty to in April, the U.S. attorney's office said.

In November 2005, Metro officers visited Dean's residence after her sister filed a report of concern for Dean's sons, who were 12 and 14 years old at the time. Her sister reported she had seen child pornography on Dean's computer.

When officers questioned Dean, she admitted to using the computer to engage in Internet sex, Brower said. After her computer was seized, police found about 200 child pornography images and 80 child pornography videos.