Nurse to Serve 6 Years in Prison for Possession of Child Porn
A cyber tip from a social media company revealed the nurse’s suspicious online activity.
A registered nurse at East Bay hospital in California, Shawn Jamison Prichard, 42, has been sentenced to six years in prison after federal authorities found more than 600 images of child pornography in his possession.
Authorities first discovered pornography at Prichard’s home after the National Center for Missing Exploited Children received a tip from a social media company about the nurse’s online activities related to child porn, reports the Patch. Authorities initially searched his phone and uncovered conversations about his desire to sexually abuse children. Later, after his initial sentencing, Prichard admitted to having much more in his possession.
“The images included voices and images showing prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, as well as images of sadistic or masochistic depictions of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct perpetrated by adults on infants and toddlers,” federal authorities reported.
The Department of Homeland Security, the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the investigation.
Prichard’s attorney wrote in court records that Prichard was under “extreme stress” due to his role as a “pandemic front-line nurse,” reports The Mercury News. “His offense was an escape from the trauma he was experiencing.”
The hospital where Prichard had been working issued in a statement after he had been charged of its “commitment to maintaining an environment that is safe for our members, patients, and the people of Kaiser Permanente.”
The six-year sentence comes after some jail time for Prichard in December 2020 when authorities found digital evidence of child pornography.
For his current crimes, he was charged with three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of aggravated possession of child pornography. In a plea agreement on March 31, he plead guilty to the count and admitted that he had more than 600 pornographic images of children, according to prosecutors.
In addition to 78 months in prison, a federal judge sentenced Prichard to five years of probation and the possibility of having to pay restitution.
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