Inmate Convicted Of Using Internet For Child Porn

A man in prison for molesting girls was convicted Thursday of using the Internet to collect child pornography in hopes of peddling it.

A U.S. District Court jury found George Chamberlain guilty of conspiring to trade in child pornography and possessing child pornography.

Chamberlain, who began serving a 23-year sentence in 1979 for molesting teenage girls, could get an additional 15 years in prison and be fined $250,000 on each count. A sentencing date has not been set. He will have to forfeit his computer.

“This case is an object lesson that the information age must have some limits. It’s obvious that prisoners should not have access to the Internet,” said U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug.

According to evidence presented during the seven-day trial, Chamberlain, 57, used a computer and the Internet to obtain child pornography while in the state’s medium-security prison in Lino Lakes. He was manager of computer services for a nonprofit work-study program at the prison.

According to the indictment, Chamberlain possessed a CD-ROM disc with about 280 pictures of juveniles engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The disc was accessible only by entering the password “They cannot commit me.”