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Delco man gets 120 years in kiddie-porn case
John Jackey Worman's court-appointed lawyer didn't have much to work with yesterday at his client's sentencing hearing.
"Human being" and "psychopath" were the kindest words that defense attorney Mark Cedrone had for Worman, a remorseless child pornographer.
Worman, 42, of Colwyn, Delaware County, was sentenced yesterday to 120 years in prison for sexually assaulting at least a dozen children - from teenagers to infants - and documenting his escapades with thousands of video clips.
He was convicted last year on 55 counts of manufacturing child porn and one count of possessing it.
Cedrone said that the evidence may suggest that Worman is a "monster" but asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel to "recognize Mr. Worman's humanity."
Stengel, who has heard cases of rape, child abuse and murder-by-torture during his 19 years as a trial judge, said Worman's nine-year rampage lowered the bar for mankind.
The abuse was all captured on camera, with 1.2 million images and 11,000 homemade videos.
"This is the most disturbing and ugliest pattern of human behavior that I've ever seen," Stengel said, adding that the "sick, opportunistic, depraved" acts Worman committed go beyond what Congress could have imagined when they wrote the federal child-pornography laws.
"One victim of this kind of behavior, one time, is too much," he said.
Worman, a burly man with a graying beard, sat silently yesterday in his prison-issued green jumpsuit. He offered no statement in his own defense, but has previously told psychological evaluators that he is "totally at peace with everything I've done," according to Stengel.
During the trial, jurors were forced to view some of Worman's child-porn collection, including images of him raping a baby. He was convicted along with ex-girlfriend Dorothy Prawdzik, who provided Worman with victims, including her young relatives, and positioned them in front of the camera while Worman sexually abused them. Prawdzik, 45, of Drexel Hill, was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Worman also located children through a babysitting service run by Concetta Jackson, 46, who pleaded guilty to one count of manufacturing child pornography and is jailed while awaiting sentencing.
"There is an evil inside of you that no amount of rehabilitation can fix," said a Folcroft woman whose daughter, now 6, was sexually assaulted by Worman as an infant.
"My immense hatred for you knows no bounds and never will," the mother said, calling him a "lowlife b------."
One of Worman's victims, now 21, testified that she still finds it difficult to trust people after being abused as a teenager. "You have done me dirty," she told him, "and I had to clean up the mess."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella requested the life sentence because it is the "only way to protect society" from Worman.
"I wanted to make sure that he was never, ever let out," she said.
