Retiree pleads guilty in Internet child porn case

A man set to go on trial changes his plea

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published October 4, 2007

A Clearwater man pleaded guilty in federal court in Tampa Wednesday to distributing child pornography on the Internet.

Kevin McMahon, 61, could face a minimum five-year prison sentence on the charge. He was set to go to trial this month, but changed his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun III.

McMahon, who retired from a job in finance with General Motors, was indicted in July. Federal prosecutors say that between June 25 and Dec. 1, 2006, McMahon sent at least 200 e-mails with pictures of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct from an America Online account. Some of the images were sent just days before FBI agents went to his home, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Kerwin.

In September 2006, a woman in Chico, Calif., found some of the images on a computer at a home where she lived with a son and several foster children. She contacted the local police department and a detective investigated the source of the pictures.

The Chico Police Department traced the images to McMahon, who had sent them from the screen name KevinMCT. America Online officials told police the account was registered to McMahon and provided an address to his apartment on McMullen-Booth Road.

Court papers say that when FBI agents asked McMahon if he knew why they wanted to talk to him, he said, "The pictures?"

Prosecutors said McMahon later admitted he had been downloading child porn online for the past four or five years. George Tragos, McMahon's attorney, told the judge that McMahon has received counseling since being charged.

For now, he remains free on bail. He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. once a date has been set.