US Postal Service Employee Charged in Worcester With Viewing Child Porn at Work Computers
Friday, September 23, 2016
The United State Department of Justice announced that a U.S. Postal Service employee was charged in U.S. District Court in Worcester in connection with viewing child pornography on USPS computers.
Stephen Mantha, 62, of Spencer, was charged in a complaint with possession of child pornography and accessing with intent to view child pornography. Mantha was arrested on Wednesday and detained pending a detention hearing that is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2016.
The Incident
According to court documents, starting in August of 2015, USPS Office of Inspector General investigators were alerted to suspicious internet searches being conducted by Mantha on a computer at the Shrewsbury processing and distribution center where he worked as an electronic technician.
A second investigation showed that Mantha was utilizing the USPS computer to search for, and view, images of child pornography on the internet.
On Sept. 21, 2016, a search warrant executed at Mantha’s residence recovered computers, DVDs/CDs, an external hard drive, and more than a dozen thumb drives. A preliminary, on-scene, forensic review of three of the thumb drives revealed images of child pornography.
Possible Sentencing
The charging statutes provide for a sentence of no more than 20 years in prison, a minimum of five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.
Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Eileen Neff, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Postal Service, Office of Inspector General; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; David Darrin, Chief of the Spencer Police Department, and James Hester, Jr., Chief of the Shrewsbury Police Department, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Mark Grady of Ortiz’s Worcester Branch Office.
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