A retired NYPD officer was sentenced to (PDF) ten years in jail for downloading videos of children being sexually abused. Matthew Fanning pleaded guilty last month to two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child. In court yesterday, he learned more about the now 19-year-old woman who was raped in the videos as a child, in a harrowing statement read by an ADA: "Every day, somewhere, someone is taking pleasure in watching me being raped."
The woman, who was known as “Vicky,” the self-titled subject of a series of videos popular in child-pornography circles, described enduring flashbacks, nightmares and paranoia because of her abuse. “I wonder if the people I know have seen these images. I wonder if the men I pass in the grocery store have seen them. Because the most intimate parts of me are being viewed by thousands of strangers, and traded around, I feel out of control. They are trading my trauma around like treats at a party, but it is far from innocent. It feels like I am being raped by each and every one of them,” she wrote in the statement.
The victim's father, who created the video, is currently serving 50 years in prison. Prosecutors say that Fanning, a retired NYPD officer from the 100th Precinct, had viewed videos of children as young as 3 years old having sex with adults. He apologized to the children in those videos after his sentencing: "I pray for them and their families every day. The phrase 'Lord knows I'm sorry' comes to mind. I swear to God nothing like this will ever happen again. I ask for God's forgiveness today." Fanning will receive treatment as a sex offender while he's incarcerated.
