Libby man gets 30 months for child pornography possession
A U.S. District Judge last week sentenced a Libby man to two and a half years in prison for possession of 755 images of child pornography.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge Dana Christensen on Aug. 24 sentenced Rodney Lee Brossman to 30 months with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons for possession of child pornography. In his judgment, Christensen requires Brossman to pay $4,000 in restitution to two different children’s victim groups. After his term in jail, Brossman will be on supervised release for seven years and will enter a sex offender treatment program.
As part of a plea deal signed in April, one of the original charges, distributing child pornography, has been dismissed.
Brossman was indicted in January for distributing child pornography on or about Nov. 30, 2013 and possession of child pornography from Nov. 30, 2013 to Feb. 27, 2014 that contained images of a minor less than 12 years old.
According to court documents, an unnamed law enforcement agency received an online tip in January 2014 that a personal email account had uploaded six images of child pornography. The images showed minors under the age of 12 having sex with adults.
Law enforcement subpoenaed the email account’s IP address from the internet service provider, finding Brossman as the owner of the account. Officers executed a search warrant for Brossman’s home in February, 2014 and reported finding several child pornography files on his computer.
According to the report, Brossman voluntarily spoke with police during the search and told them he did view child pornography and had some stored on his computer. Police reported that Brossman said he would view the images once or twice a week, traded child pornography with others and preferred images of girls under the age of 12.
According to court documents, police found approximately 755 images and videos on two different devices owned by Brossman. About 319 non-nude images of juvenile girls were also found, according to the report.
In one court document, the prosecutor describes the interview between Brossman and the police, when Brossman reportedly told them that he would create fictional online accounts to enter different “teen chat rooms” with the goal of securing child pornography.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Zeno Baucus, initially argued Brossman should be sentenced to 120 years.
According to character witness letters written by Libby residents on his behalf, Brossman worked many years in Libby as a log truck driver and water truck driver. He was an active member of the Libby Christian Church, where his family apparently attended since it was started in Libby by his uncle, according to one letter.
On April 7, Brossman and his defense attorney, Peter Lacny, filed a plea agreement signed by Baucus, Brossman and Lacny stating that he would reverse his original plea to guilty of the possession charge if Baucus would agree to dismiss the distribution charge. Possession of child pornography carries a maximum 20 years imprisonment and maximum $250,000.
As part of his supervised release, Brossman will be allowed to self-report to supervisors and will be monitored electronically.
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.