Las Vegas man gets 78 months for possession of child porn
A Las Vegas man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 78 months in prison followed by lifetime supervision after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography in April.
James Karman Ryan, 49, addressed U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson on Tuesday — over two years after authorities filed the criminal indictment against him in 2015.
“I want to apologize for the time I’ve taken from you, the court, my friends, my family,” he said. “I understand what I have done. At the time I didn’t, it was something I did four years ago as a coping mechanism.”
The judge allowed Ryan to go back to his family until 9 p.m. Tuesday and acknowledged Ryan’s community support and remorse.
“He has the opportunity to return to his employment,” Dawson said. “And, I’m taking into consideration his diminished state at the time,” he said before sentencing Ryan to 78 months.
In late November 2013, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police established a connection with Ryan’s computer and downloaded two child pornography videos, one showing a prepubescent female child and another depicting a prepubescent male child with other children, according to court records.
A Nevada state court judge authorized a search warrant for Ryan’s home on Jan. 12, 2014. Ryan, who was home when the SWAT team arrived, barricaded himself in his room and began to delete files on his computer, according to the plea agreement. In a document filed by his attorney, Ryan maintains he surrendered without incident when police came to his home.
Ryan said he downloaded child pornography on accident while downloading images of adults. Authorities found over 7,915 images and videos of child pornography on Ryan’s computer, hard drives and other devices. Of the images, authorities deemed about 4,687 to be child sexual abuse, court records show.
“I honestly believe in a situation like this, it’s a tragedy all around,” said Ryan’s attorney, Michael Miceli, who said images and videos of children were included in Ryan’s internet searches. “He did open those files. He did look. He did see what was there. Although his intent was to look at adult pornography.”
Ryan, who reports say suffers from alcoholism, told the judge he has been seeing a therapist weekly and plans to continue therapy. He’s also interested in participating in a drug treatment program, as well as more counseling.
“I think about this every day,” Ryan said. “There is nothing I can do now to change what it was, but to be more productive.”
The plea agreement stipulates that Ryan pay $3,000 per victim depicted, for any victim who may be identified through the Child Victim Identification Program. Dawson specified eight victims in court Tuesday. Ryan is also required to pay $5,000 per count pursuant to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.
