Child porn felon gets holiday at home
Federal judge delays prison entry; says man's pedophilia due to "gene you were born with"
By JAMES M. ODATO, Capitol bureau
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First published: Friday, December 4, 2009
ALBANY -- A former rescue squad worker considered a "risk to children" and a threat to society was given the chance to spend the holidays with his family before serving the six and a half years in federal prison in a sentence given Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe.
Sharpe told Gary Cossey, 47, of Cambridge that he has until Jan. 14 before beginning the term the judge imposed after a stern lecture.
Cossey pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography earlier this year. He was indicted in July 2008 for downloading images of young children involved in sex acts. The material was found on a Greenwich Rescue Squad computer and on a personal computer owned by Cossey and obtained by the FBI.
Cossey, a longtime rescue squad worker, told the judge he was a victim of sexual abuse as a boy. Photos of him and another child involved in sexual acts were taken, Cossey said.
But Sharpe rejected the notion Cossey's problem was "because of what happened to you as a child," and attributed the man's pedophilia to "a gene you were born with."
"It is something you can't control and therein lies the problem," Sharpe said. " ... You are what you're born."
Cossey talked about working with psychiatric professionals and indicated his counseling is helping. "There are so many things I'm finding out about myself," he told Sharpe. "I want to continue therapy. ... It's going to be a long-term thing."
Sharpe told him he has no faith in psychiatric professionals or their opinions, and that by downloading photos of children engaged in sex Cossey promoted the pornography industry. Such conduct, he said, enhances the potential for abductions, kidnapping and violent crimes against minors. "Against my better judgment," he said, Cossey could spend a few more weeks with his family, at least three of whom were in the courtroom.
The charges came after the captain of the Greenwich Rescue Squad turned over the squad's computer to the town police department. Cossey admitted viewing images of children ages 3 to 14 engaged in sex starting in 2001. His crimes began in the fall of 2005.
Child porn felon gets holiday at home
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