CLEARFIELD – A Woodland man who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography was sentenced to state prison Wednesday in Clearfield County court.
Reed Alan Finnigan, 61, 4255 Shawville Hwy., Woodland, an inmate of the jail, pleaded guilty to five felony counts of photograph/film depicting on computer sex act-child, five felony counts of unlawful contact with a minor, 100 counts of possession of child pornography, 50 counts of obscene or sexual materials and 12 counts of invasion of privacy. Originally he was charged with more than 500 counts of possession of child pornography and more than 300 counts of obscene and other sexual materials.
He was sentenced by Judge Paul Cherry to a total of 30 months to 14 years in state prison. Although he was not deemed a sexually violent predator after an evaluation, he will have to register his address under Megan’s Law for the rest of his life. He was fined $172 plus costs. He was ordered to undergo counseling and he must submit to a DNA drug test at a cost of $250.
According to court documents, Finnigan used photos of children edited with pornography to create pornographic pictures of “normally innocent and clothed subjects.” The original images showed children under the age of 18 who appeared to be unaware they were being photographed.
Prior to sentencing his attorney, Brian Litzinger, noted that Finnigan is the primary caregiver for his mother. He also noted that Finnigan’s daughters had written statements on his behalf for the judge to review, saying he was a decent father. Litzinger asked Cherry to consider probation on the second set of felony charges and suggested if Finnigan violated that probation he could be sent away for the rest of his life.
Finnigan’s sister addressed the court to ask for compassion. She painted a different picture of her brother as the one who always looked out for her and whose home was a refuge. She said he hosted the family gatherings and when in the Coast Guard he brought home friends on holidays who were too far from their own homes.
“He was always willing to help anyone,” she said.
Finnigan also addressed the court apologizing and describing his actions as “stupid.”
“There was no call for it. I’m not sexually attracted to small children. This is not me; not my life. I’m not this type of person,” he said.
He did admit to having an addiction to pornography and said he is getting treatment for that. He stated that he didn’t “have respect for people’s images” adding that he didn’t think of this as child pornography.
Apologizing again to the community he stated, “I was not my normal self.”
District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr. responded to Finnigan’s comments by saying that Finnigan was not just altering the images. He had hundreds of images of child pornography.
Cherry told Finnigan his “stupid actions affected your entire family, your friends and community. This is a sickness.”
“I hope you get the help you need and I hope you never appear in from of me again,” Cherry finished.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an investigation began after Finnigan’s wife reported to police that she had found some disturbing photos on his external hard drive. She said sometime in November of 2011 she observed him viewing nude photos on a laptop. She also noticed he carried around an external hard drive.
In December of 2011 when she examined some of the folders on the drive, she found normal images of known female juveniles and other pornographic photos. Some of these were altered using Photoshop with the known girls’ heads being placed on nude or seminude bodies. Other altered images had the girls’ heads added to bodies involved in sexual acts. There were also closely cropped photos of juvenile girls in bathing suits and of one girl whose buttocks were partially exposed as she slept.
In January of 2012, a search warrant was executed on Finnigan’s residence, where the hard drive, a desktop and laptop computers were seized. During this, the defendant stated he would tell officials everything since they “were going to find it anyway.” He admitted to having a porn addiction and said he began editing images five years ago.