A judge has sentenced a St. Johnsbury man to eight years in federal prison this week on a child pornography charge.
Tony Cuthbertson, 50, pleaded guilty in July to one count of producing child porn by editing images of identifiable minors, with intent to distribute them, U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement Friday.
He was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release after his jail term.
Judge Geoffrey Crawford handed down the sentence in Rutland’s U.S. District Court on Wednesday.
Prosecutors say that in September and October of 2017, Cuthbertson uploaded images to several online chat rooms depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
The minors weren’t actually engaged in the behavior; Cuthbertson cropped the photos in such a way that the children appeared to be, prosecutors say. The minors were identifiable, according to the statement from Nolan.
“These images depicted child pornography and Cuthbertson produced them with the intention of distributing them,” prosecutors said.
In the court ruling, Crawford recommended Cuthbertson serve his time in Federal Medical Center, Devens, in Massachussetts, “so he may participate in intensive mental health and sex offender treatment while incarcerated.”
The facility would also allow Cuthbertson to remain as close as possible to family in Vermont, the judge wrote.
Nolan commended the Lebanon (New Hampshire) Police Department, the Vermont Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations for the agencies’ work in the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson prosecuted Cuthbertson, and he was represented by Assistant Federal Public Defender Steven Barth.
