Vancouver Man Sentenced for Receipt of Child Porn and Fleeing Ahead of Sentencing Defendant Sentenced to Extra 18 Months for Absconding

PAUL ERIC PRESLEY, 48, formerly of Vancouver, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to six and a half years in prison and twenty years of supervised release for Possession of Child Pornography, and Failure to Appear at his sentencing hearing on November 17, 2008.  PRESLEY had been released on bond with Geographic Positioning System (GPS) monitoring pending his November 2008 sentencing for Receipt of Child Pornography.  On Saturday, November 15, 2008, PRESLEY cut off his GPS ankle bracelet, and fled his Portland, Oregon residence.  PRESLEY was located and arrested November 25, 2008, in Las Vegas, Nevada.   PRESLEY has been in custody ever since, and today was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle.  At sentencing, Judge Settle emphasized damage done to children by child pornography, stating that the victims in the images collected by Presley “are suffering every day, will suffer for the rest of their lives.”

According to PRESLEY’s March 2008 plea agreement, on December 6, 2006, Vancouver Police responded to a 9-1-1 call at PRESLEY’s home.  PRESLEY’s wife told the officers she called 9-1-1 because PRESLEY had child pornography stored on his desktop and laptop computers.  Officers seized the desktop computer but did not find the laptop.  The next day PRESLEY’s daughter and her boyfriend delivered the laptop to police saying PRESLEY had given them the computer and told them to dispose of it.  A forensic examination of the computers revealed more than 2,900 images and 235 movies of children engaged in explicit sexual conduct.

Assistant United States Attorney Mike Dion minced no words writing to the court for a significant sentence, “Presley’s failure to appear for sentencing and flight to Las Vegas is the latest chapter in his sordid saga.  It comes as no surprise, because dishonesty and refusal to take responsibility are Presley’s hallmarks.  Since the criminal investigation began in 2006, every time Presley has had an opportunity to debase and disgrace himself, he takes it.  Time will tell whether he has the moral courage to admit his massive character flaws and become a better person.  But reform for Paul Presley is a very long term project.  For now, the seriousness of his crimes demand a long jail sentence.”

The case was investigated by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Mike Dion and David Reese Jennings.

For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110 or Emily.Langlie@usdoj.gov.