Man sent photos of child abuse to FBI agent online, court hears

A man was caught in possession of hundreds of images of children being sexually abused after sending illicit material to an undercover FBI agent, a court has heard.

Dermot Whelan (67) of The Crescent, Belgard Heights, Tallaght, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of the image on two computer devices at his address on July 21st, 2014.

Whelan also pleaded guilty to knowingly distributing child pornography at his address on an unknown date between October 20th, 2012 and July 21st, 2014. He has no previous convictions.

Detective Garda Trevor Scanlon told Pieter Le Vert BL, prosecuting, that the case originated with a member of the FBI working undercover and monitoring certain internet chat rooms which were suspected of being places where possessors of child abuse images congregated.

Det Garda Scanlon said that in 2012, the FBI agent placed an advertisement designed to appeal to people interested in such material. The agent received a response from an email address which sent them 25 images of children.

The FBI agent contacted Yahoo who determined that the email address was located in Ireland. Gardaí­ obtained a search warrant for the accused’s address and seized a number of electronic devices.

A laptop seized was found to have accessed a number of websites containing child pornography. Three explicit child abuse videos were discovered on the laptop.

Also found on the laptop were 53 explicit images of children and 182 child exposure images. Further images of children were discovered on a desktop computer.

In interview with gardaí, Whelan said he thought child pornography was disgusting and that under no circumstances would he harm a child. He offered as an excuse for the material being found on the computers the fact that he had bought them second hand.

In a subsequent interview, Whelan admitted he had viewed child pornography and sent it on to others via email. He said that at the time he thought it was okay because he was not buying it or contributing to it.

Whelan said he was sexually aroused by the images. He said this was something he deeply regrets and that he has not viewed pornography of any kind since the offences.

Det Garda Scanlon agreed with James Dwyer SC, defending, that the manner of possession was that the files were viewed and thus went into a “temp file”, meaning that only a minority of the images were actually downloaded.

Mr Dwyer said his client has removed Wi-Fi from his home and has undergone therapy. He said that without admissions made by Whelan, it is likely his client would not have been charged with distributing child pornography.

Counsel submitted that this was less serious offending than is often seen in cases like this, particularly with regard to the volume of material involved. He said this may be a case that does not require his client’s immediate incarceration.

Judge Elma Sheahan remanded the accused on continuing bail and adjourned the matter for finalisaiton on July 9th.