Man who traded child porn gets two years in federal prison

SAN FRANCISCO >> A city resident who traded child porn files online was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison, court records show.

James Pollet was sentenced at a Tuesday hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. Prosecutors, in asking for a fouryear, three-month prison term, alleged that Pollet engaged in sexual chats with people who described themselves as teen boys and that a date rape drug was found during a search of his apartment. Pollet’s name came up when federal authorities were investigating another person for distributing child porn, prosecutors said in court records. He pleaded guilty to a child porn charge last year, court records show.

Pollet was found with 49 videos of child porn, including videos showing children as young as age 5 being molested, prosecutors said.

Pollet’s attorney wrote in court records that Pollet’s offense came in the midst of a severe methamphetamine addiction and engaging in sex with an “extreme” amount of partners during a time of intense “grief and despair.” Pollet — who worked as a designer and was at one point making $200,000 — saw his life fall apart after the death of a close friend and is also a survivor of child abuse, the attorney wrote.

In court records, Pollet offered an apology saying he took “full responsibility” for the crime.

“I viewed images of child sexual abuse on my computer. I knew these images depicted child sexual abuse and that children had been harmed in the production of the images,” Pollet wrote. “I feel disgusted, shameful and remorseful.”