Feb 2007 Connecticut:NEW HAVEN -- A man who traded images of child pornography and sexual abuse on the Internet was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison after pleading for mercy, saying his effeminate appearance would make him vulnerable to abuse behind bars.
David Cuozzo, 42, of New Haven had amassed a collection of 1,780 files of child pornography involving at least 30 children, including images that portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence and the rape of young children, authorities said.
"This defendant used the Internet to trade some of the most disturbing images of infant and toddler child pornography and sexual abuse that law enforcement has seen," said U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor. "Federal laws that target the child pornography trade, and the strict terms of imprisonment to which offenders are exposed, exist to eliminate the victimization of children all over the world, as those who possess child pornography help to create the market for this insidious practice."
Cuozzo, who pleaded guilty last year to transportation of child pornography, sought a sentence less than the more than 17 to nearly 22 years he faced under federal guidelines. He must report to prison April 3.
"I wish I could turn back the clock and start over," Cuozzo said Tuesday during his sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court. "I apologize not only to the victims but their friends and families. Their lives have been forever ruined because of my actions and for that I am truly sorry."
U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns said that though the offense was serious, the guidelines were excessive in Cuozzo's case. She cited several factors, including his poor health and lack of a criminal record, for imposing the lower sentence.
Cuozzo, who must register as a sex offender, said he has Klinefelter Syndrome, a genetic defect that leads to feminine traits such as sparse or absent facial hair and a high-pitched voice.
"David Cuozzo plainly fits the profile of a vulnerable inmate," his attorneys wrote in court papers. "He is at a high risk of physical as well as sexual violence. He is a white man with an effeminate appearance and extremely effeminate mannerisms. He is gay and most people who meet him immediately identify his sexual orientation without him disclosing it."
But the mother of a girl who was repeatedly abused to produce images traded over the Internet called for the maximum sentence.
"Without a market to receive and trade those images, without the encouragement of those who wanted to acquire the images, I truly believe this abuse would not have occurred," the mother wrote. "I've watched my daughter transformed from a buoyant, cheerful child full of energy and enthusiasm to an anxious and fretful shadow of her former self."
The woman, who is not identified in court papers, said the experience left her daughter distrustful of any touch. She washes her hands repeatedly, trying to feel "clean."
"Each person who callously passes on those sickening pictures is exposing my daughter to further shame and humiliation," the woman wrote.
Prosecutors rejected Cuozzo's claim that he would be vulnerable in prison, saying he is nearly 6 feet tall and that the argument was based on alleged abuse of effeminate men in state prisons, not federal facilities where he would be housed.
"The trading of pornographic images of known young children on the Internet acts as repeated violations of these children each time an image is viewed," prosecutors wrote. "Perhaps as important is the concern that the bartering or distribution of disturbing images of abuse may fuel the appetite of those disturbed individuals who would act on such imagery."
O'Connor said the prosecution was part of the Project Safe Childhood Initiative, designed to protect children from online exploitation. ..Source.. by John Christoffersen
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