A Sheffield man was sentenced Thursday to 10 years of probation for possessing child sexual abuse material, conduct that took place while he was employed as a state corrections supervisor.
Benjamin Mallery, 32, pleaded guilty to the crime in November. He admitted that, in March 2021, he possessed a series of eight digital photographs that showed sexually explicit images of a child. The images were stored in his Google Drive account, which were linked to two email addresses, including his state government email.
In Caledonia County Superior Court on Thursday afternoon, Judge Michael Kainen sentenced Mallery to 10 years of probation, suspending an underlying prison term of 18 months to five years.
In accordance with Mallery’s plea deal with the state Attorney General’s Office, the judge also dismissed his five other charges of possessing child sexual abuse material.
Initially, Mallery’s plea deal with the state required him to serve 60 days in jail on consecutive weekends. But last week, Mallery and the prosecution jointly informed the court of an amendment to their agreement, based on a presentence investigation that showed his willingness to participate in treatment for sexual offenders and low risk of committing a violent offense, among other mitigating factors.
“I made a life-altering mistake and will spend the rest of my life dealing with the consequences,” Mallery said at his sentencing, where he also apologized to the unknown child victims depicted in the illegal images he had.
Mallery was arrested in March 2022, while working at the Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury, where he served as a shift supervisor, according to court documents.
His probationary conditions include not accessing pornographic materials on the internet and only being allowed contact with select minors younger than 16 or with a pre-approved chaperone. Violations of his probation could result in prison time.
