Internet sex abuse scheme ends in suspended sentence

A 28-year-old Columbia Falls man was given a 10-year suspended sentence after he was charged with eliciting revealing photos from a 15-year-old boy.

John McFadden pleaded guilty to felony sexual abuse of children before Flathead County District Court Judge Heidi Ulbricht on Jan. 31. He will be designated a Level 1 sex offender.

According to court documents, the boy approached the police in April 2011 and told them McFadden wanted revealing photos sent to a woman named “Sara” at a sexually-suggestive e-mail address.

McFadden allegedly offered to pay the boy $5 apiece for the photos. The boy said McFadden paid him for six or seven photos and told him to “keep it under the radar” because people would get in trouble if their activity was discovered.

Police served an investigative subpoena on the company which provided the Internet domain name for the e-mail address. They learned that the e-mail address was connected to a “Sara K,” whose IP address was tracked back to the user ID registered to McFadden.

In court, McFadden admitted paying for the photos but denied receiving any. A second charge of felony sexual abuse of children was dismissed.

The boy’s mother told Ulbricht that she had known McFadden for a long time and believed he had been abused as a child.

She asked that McFadden be required to spend at least one to three years in prison, but Ulbricht followed the recommendation from the county attorney’s office by suspending the entire 10 years.