By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A Gardendale man was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court on two counts of possession of child pornography and three counts of receiving child pornography.

Sgt. Chuck Denham of the Gardendale Police Dept. said Donald Roger Phillips Jr., 50, was sentenced to 97 months in prison and 20 years’ probation.

Phillips was sentenced in court by Judge James Hancock, according to media reports.

Denham said despite relatively weak state laws regarding child pornography charges, the department was satisfied with Phillips’ eight-year sentence. The maximum penalty for possession of child pornography is 10 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

“We’re very happy with the outcome of this,” Denham said. “If we have any more cases, we’ll pursue them just as vigorously.”

Phillips was arrested last year on Aug. 6 at his home without incident. He reportedly plead guilty to the five charges on Nov. 21.

The Gardendale Police Department had received a tip from a cleaning company the previous May that pornographic images of children were found in Phillips’ home on Pineywood Road.

The department then executed a search warrant and after finding pornography at the house, contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Innocent Images Task Force.

Phillips’ computers were then seized for evidence.

The Innocent Images Task Force, a component of FBI’s Cyber Crimes Program, is an intelligence driven, proactive, multi-agency investigative operation to combat the proliferation of child pornography and child sexual exploitation through online means, according to the FBI’s Web site.

Denham said the images found at Phillips’ residence were downloaded and he was not producing the material himself.

“This is such a terrible thing,” Denham said of the case. “At some point, there were kids who got abused. There’s not much worse than taking advantage of a child, especially in a sexual way.”