MAY 21, 2019

Shawn Martin receives 12 year prison sentence for duplicating more than 30,000 files of child pornography

Today, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill announced that 50-year-old Shawn Martin received a 12 year prison sentence for being in possession of more than 30,000 images and video files of child pornography.

“Children are among the most vulnerable members of our community,” said Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney BJ Park, who prosecuted this case. “The harm done to a child victim is compounded and made worse each time someone like Shawn Martin uploads, sends, trades or views these appalling files. We must do everything possible to stop this behavior and to protect our children. The District Attorney’s Office recognizes the technology industry for implementing safeguards to identify child pornography files that are distributed over the internet on a daily basis and to notify law enforcement immediately.”

This investigation started in 2017 when a video uploading website discovered one of its users was uploading child pornography onto his account. The company made a cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Using that information, law enforcement traced the account to Martin. 

When the cybertip was received, Martin was on post-prison supervision after previously being convicted of sodomy in the first degree, attempted sodomy in the first degree and attempted sexual abuse in the first degree. Law enforcement received consent to search Martin’s electronic devices and discovered more than 30,000 images and videos of child pornography, including files depicting sadistic sexual abuse of children as young as two years old.

The forensic exam also revealed that Martin was in possession of written accounts of child molestation fantasies that had been downloaded from the internet, written manuals that gave tips on how to have sexual encounters with children, and written literature advocating how adult-child sex is not harmful to a child.

By pleading no contest to two counts of encouraging child sexual abuse in the first degree, Martin acknowledges that he knowingly duplicated, published, displayed and exchanged a visual record of sexually explicit conduct and that he knew and consciously disregarded the fact that the creation of those recordings included sexually explicit conduct of child abuse.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office recognizes the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office for its dedicated efforts working this case.

#MCDA#

Contact: Brent Weisberg, Communications Director
Phone: 503.988.6567
Email: Brent.Weisberg@mcda.us