Former Department of Corrections Employee Sentenced to Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography Defendant Repeatedly Collected Child Pornography

THEODORE ALAN MCCAW, 49, of Aberdeen, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to five years in prison and 20 years of supervised release for receipt of child pornography. MCCAW came to the attention of federal law enforcement on May 20, 2008, when FBI investigators using an enhanced file-sharing program determined that MCCAW was sharing child pornography with others over the Internet. MCCAW was using a free file-sharing program to obtain and share child pornography. When investigators served a search warrant on his computers in December 2008, they found more than 7,000 images of child pornography and 81 videos of child pornography. MCCAW pleaded guilty April 9, 2010. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle told MCCAW the images involved were “unspeakably awful.”

According to records filed in the case, investigators looking into the sharing of child pornography over the Internet, were aware of files containing child pornography being shared in connection with MCCAW’s computer address in May 2008, June 2008, and August 2008. Agents obtained a court authorized search warrant and seized numerous hard drives, computers, and a thumb drive from MCCAW in December 2008. MCCAW had been employed as a correctional officer in Shelton, Washington until 2003, when he first came to the attention of law enforcement for possession of child pornography. MCCAW’s state employment was terminated at that time.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, MCCAW completed a psycho-sexual evaluation, and will register as a sex offender.

Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan wrote to the court that MCCAW had been unable to break his addiction to child pornography. “Indeed, despite suffering significant consequences, each time McCaw was caught with child pornography he returned to collecting it soon afterwards. Specifically, in 2003 law enforcement officers found McCaw in possession of child pornography. As a result, McCaw lost his employment as a Department of Corrections officer. Yet, McCaw returned to collecting child pornography shortly thereafter, storing it in 2004 in a storage unit where it was found by an individual who purchased the unit’s contents when McCaw fell behind on the rental payments,” Mr. Swaminathan wrote. In fact after the search warrant was served in this case in 2008, MCCAW continued to download child pornography.

The case was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan.

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.