Defendant Possessed Over 30,000 Pictures and 802 Videos of Child Pornography

Anchorage, Alaska – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced that Troy MacDermott, 36, of Anchorage, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline to serve seven years and three months in federal prison, to be followed by a 40-year term of supervised release, for possession of child pornography. MacDermott was also ordered to pay $42,000 in restitution to the victims.

According to court documents, in December 2018, law enforcement identified MacDermott’s IP address on a photo-sharing and instant messaging mobile application, which was linked to the user “chrissmith790” and “chrisschmidt159.” The investigation revealed that MacDermott utilized these monikers to upload visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

A search of MacDermott’s computer and phone revealed approximately 33,325 pictures and 802 videos of child pornography that he had downloaded through the internet. One of the videos found on his phone was three minutes and 45 seconds long and included a compilation video of sexually explicit video clips involving real minors under the age of 12.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Beistline noted the harm that MacDermott’s “repugnant” conduct had on the children shown in the images he possessed, and that MacDermott’s conduct was “clearly pre-meditated.” He admonished that it might help MacDermott in overcoming his addiction if he “think[s] about how [he’d] feel if someone did the same things [he gained so much pleasure in watching] to his children.”

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of this case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carole Holley.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices nationwide and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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