From Niesha Lofing:
A Carmichael man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison for receiving and possessing child pornography.
Kevin Gifford, 29, was sentenced in federal court by United States District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton, who decided to lessen the more than 16-year sentence recommended by federal probation officers because of Gifford's age and his history as a victim of child sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said Gifford received and then kept at least 200 video files and 160 photos of child pornography from known victims on his home computer, according to a news release by the office of U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott.
Some of the files depicted "sexually sadistic behavior" of grown men with 5- and 6-year-old girls, the release states.
Evidence presented during the jury trial made it clear that Gifford had installed at least two different file-sharing networks on his computer in order to solicit and receive videos and pictures of child porn, the release states.
Gifford also developed an online relationship with a 16-year-old Ohio girl while he was obtaining child pornography. The girl eventually moved to California to live with Gifford when she turned 18.
Within minutes of Gifford's first online contact with the girl, he began to engage her in explicit conversation. During that first conversation and subsequent conversations, Gifford talked about viewing other girls on web cameras who were engaging in inappropriate behavior, displayed his genitalia on his web camera, stated that he wanted to engage in sexual activity with the girl and wanted to enlist younger girls for his sexual fantasies, the release states.
When Gifford's computer was seized, he had contact information on it for a number of people whose online personas implied that they were minors, the release states.
A jury found Gifford guilty of the crimes Feb. 22.
The case is the product of a joint investigation by the Sacramento Sheriff's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the FBI.
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