A Grand Rapids man who used a notorious Australian website dedicated to disseminating child pornography was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison.
Seth Edward Piccolo, 44, pleaded guilty in April to two federal child pornography charges stemming from his involvement with The Love Zone website two years ago.
Australian officials intervened and shut it down, unmasking more than 40,000 users across the world, including Piccolo.
“His moral failure led him to, in his own words, ‘act selfishly’ and participate in this heinous industry,’’ defense attorney Matthew G. Borgula wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“The images he viewed included children under the age of 12 and would be considered sadistic, but nearly all child pornography cases fit that definition,’’ Borgula wrote.
Piccolo in April pleaded guilty to possession and access with intent to view child pornography. In exchange for his plea, two other counts of distribution and attempted distribution of child pornography were dismissed.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell ordered that he spend 10 years on supervised release once he gets out of prison. The five-year term was a mandatory minimum sentence.
Although sentencing guidelines recommended at least 17 years in prison, Borgula argued for a lighter sentence, noting that Piccolo did not trade or barter in child pornography and his five uploads in 2014 “were not sophisticated or extensive.’’
“Unbeknownst to Mr. Piccolo, at some point during that six-month period, the Australian government seized control of TLZ and operated and surveilled the site as its members continued to upload, download and view child pornography,’’ Borgula wrote. “To lump Mr. Piccolo in with the purveyors of the site in which he was ensnared is unfair and unjust and creates an unwarranted disparity between wrongdoers.’’
The married father of two sons has an otherwise crime-free past. Piccolo was put on Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry after entering guilty pleas in April.
“Mr. Piccolo did not share his collection of child pornography with others because he did not have one,’’ Borgula wrote. “Indeed, when investigators searched his computer they did not find a single image of child pornography.’’
