State
of Florida
Office of the State Attorney
16th Judicial Circuit
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Office of the State Attorney 16th Judicial Circuit
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Criminal Justice System Overview Employment Opportunities |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 7, 2006 Guilty of 20 Counts of Child Pornography, Man Gets Probation A Key West man pleaded guilty in court today to 20 felony counts related to child pornography. Each of the 3rd-degree felony counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and fines of $5,000. But Elric “Ric” Pinckney, 59, will not spend any time behind bars if he abides by the conditions of his court-ordered release. Circuit Judge Mark Jones sentenced Pinckney to a five-year term of “sexual-offender probation” for each of 19 counts of possession of child pornography. He ordered that the 19 probationary periods run concurrently. Following Pinckney’s first five-year probation, Judge Jones sentenced him to another 5-year sex offender probation term for the “transmission of child pornography by electronic device.” The first two years of Pinckney’s probation will be served under “sex offender community control,” commonly known as house arrest. Department of Corrections officials will determine whether or not Pinckney will be required to wear an electronic monitoring device for that two-year probationary period. Judge Jones also ordered that Pinckney serve a 5-year suspended prison term for all 20 3rd-degree felony counts. Special conditions of Pinckney’s probation include that he can not own a computer and that he can not consume any alcohol. Sex offender probationers are subject to strict residence registration rules and other monitoring regulations. Pinckney must also pay the court, investigation and supervision costs of his case. In February 2005 Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Kathy Smith called Key West Police Department Detective William Larkin about a “cyber tip” she had received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: Child pornography had been transmitted from a computer in Key West on January 24. It was sent from an America Online screen name “xxwildgirl4u.” Special Agent Smith obtained a subpoena and traced the transmission to Pinckney. She also obtained the lewd photograph Pinckney had allegedly sent. The photo showed two naked prepubescent boys and a naked prepubescent girl engaged in explicit sexual activity. The KWPD located Pinckney. He consented to a search of his residence. It turned up a computer, compact discs, floppy discs and video tapes which police confiscated. Police also questioned Pinckney about transmitting child pornography. He initially told Special Agent Smith that his “computer was hacked into.” Then they showed Pinckney “the photo in question and he positively identified the photograph,” according to police records. Pinckney “said he was shocked by the photograph when he received it,” from what he claimed was an unknown source. He acknowledged that “the photograph contained minors in a sexual act.” Pinckney also admitted that he then sent the picture over the Internet, but said “he does not remember who he sent the photo to.” Pinckney was arrested on March 3, 2005 on felony child pornography charges. Among the material police seized in the search of Pinckney’s residence was a computer floppy disc containing 19 pornographic photographs. Key West forensic psychologist Stephen A. Ragusea took the stand on behalf of Pinckney in today’s sentencing hearing. He characterized Pinckney as “seriously depressed” and “suffering from alcoholism.” Ragusea said he spent ten hours examining and testing Pinckney and testified that Pinckney “does not appear to be a pedophile.” The defendant also took the stand in his defense. He testified that ill health mostly confined him to his residence and that he spent time in AOL chat rooms “every day.” Using the screen name “xxwildgirl4u,” Pinckney said he “pretended to be a 21-year-old woman” to engage young men in sexual conversation. He said they also exchanged photographs. On one of these occasions, he testified “I just got a real shocker,” the child pornography, from someone he did not know. He said he sent the photograph along to another person with whom he had been conversing about juvenile sex. Assistant State Attorney Val Winter prosecuted the case for State Attorney Mark Kohl’s office. He noted that the maximum allowable penalty for Pinckney’s crimes was 100 years behind bars and $100,000 in fines. Winter refrained from displaying the 19 photographs in court. He described the contents of the photographs saying that most depicted prepubescent children engaging in explicit sexual penetration with other children and adults. Winter asked that Pinckney be sentenced to three years in Florida state prison – a light sentence, he said, predicated on Pinckney’s age, infirm health and lack of criminal history. Although Judge Jones conceded that the photographs were “shocking,” and adjudicated Pinckney guilty of the 20 crimes, he declined to send him to prison. “Many people consider the possession of child pornography a passive crime, a crime committed behind closed doors,” said Winter. “Those people should consider that little children are atrociously exploited and abused to create pornographic images.” |
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Last modified:
10/23/07
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