60 days for Swampscott dad on child-porn raps

SWAMPSCOTT – A Swampscott man was sentenced to 60 days in the House of Corrections and five years probation for possession of child pornography and possession with intent to distribute.Stephen Surette, 53, of 32 Allen Road, Swampscott was sentenced in Lawrence Superior Court on Thursday afternoon.According to Lawrence Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Jack Greenler, during his five years probation Surette is required to wear a GPS monitoring system.”It equates to home confinement,” Greenler said. “He is not to have a computer or any hand held devices that can connect to the Internet.”Greenler said Surette is required to register as a sex offender, obtain sex-offender treatment and alcohol treatment. He said Surette is also forbidden to work in any job where he would come in contact with children under the age of 18.Greenler said Surette would be required to perform 20 hours of community service per week while he is on probation and he would be required to submit to random alcohol and drug screenings. Surette is also required to pay for the GPS monitoring and probation fees.Defense Attorney David Twohig said Surette is suffering from terminal colon cancer and liver failure. Twohig asked Judge Richard Welch III for probation and pointed out his client needs constant monitoring and medications.Essex Assistant District Attorney Jana DiNatale asked the judge to sentence Twohig to three-to-five years in state prison on all of the possession charges, to be followed by 10 years of probation. She said that recommendation took into account Surette’s medical condition.Welch attributed the leniency of the sentence to the defendant’s “serious medical condition.” Among the letters submitted to the court Thursday were two from doctors indicating that his condition is likely terminal.Surette was remanded into custody on April 17 after a jury found him guilty of 11 of 15 child pornography counts. Surette was found guilty on eight counts of possession of child pornography and guilty on all three counts of possession of pornography with the intent to disseminate in connection with incidents that occurred between April 2003 and May 17, 2006.The jury deliberated for nearly two days following the seven day trial and entered the guilty verdict on April 17. Surette could have been sentenced to up to five years in state prison on each of the child pornography charges he was convicted of and up to 20 years in state prison on each of the dissemination of child pornography offenses.DiNatale discredited the defense argument that the images were downloaded by accident. She praised the work of computer forensic investigator Richard Falanga and State Trooper Sgt. Thomas Neff of the Essex District Attorney’s Computer Facilitated Crimes Unit as well as Swampscott Police Detective Ted Delano and Detective Sgt. Timothy Cassidy for their work on the case.According to police reports, law enforcement was led to Surette after the Department of Homeland Security became involved in an investigation into a German pornographer last November.Surette’s e-mail address had been recorded by the pornographer and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracked his identity down through the Internet service provider who turned the name over to Swampscott police. After a six-month investigation, police arrested him May 16 at his home and seized his computer, videotapes and computer disks. Prior to his arrest, Surette was a fifth grade teacher at a Malden elementary school.According to police, when they interviewed Surette, who used the screen name ssmil123, he told them he likes to drink and look at pornography on Sundays. He reportedly told officers he had an obsession with pornography but he did not distribute it or actively molest children.The images found on his computer included an actual child missing child, another depicts a mother with her 13-year-old son, and another image of a girl with a stuffed animal.Calls to Twohig were not immediately returned on Thursday afternoon.