Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard

Chesco man gets 8 years for child porn 'morphing'

A Chester County man - the first to be prosecuted in the region for child-pornography "morphing," in which non-obscene images are incorporated into pornographic ones - was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison.

A Chester County man - the first to be prosecuted in the region for child-pornography "morphing," in which non-obscene images are incorporated into pornographic ones - was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison.

Calling his own behavior "vile and disgusting," Christopher S. Binck, 54, of Phoenixville, told U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengal that his arrest by federal agents "literally saved my soul." He pleaded guilty in February.

Binck, a married father with five children, said 18 months of counseling had helped him realize that his crimes, which included trading images in which the heads of two young girls whom he knew had been edited onto pornographic poses, were not victimless.

Capping a two-hour hearing, the judge cited Binck's remorse as one of numerous factors he considered in fashioning the sentence.

Defense attorney Todd Henry had argued for a term of five years - the minimum Binck could have received - suggesting that the guidelines for child pornography have created much disparity in sentencing and do not address a wide range of conduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Denise Wolf applauded Binck's rehabilitative efforts but said his crimes spanned several years and "kept escalating" into more graphic imagery, which she showed to the judge.

Because the images will remain in cyberspace, it is difficult to fathom the impact on the victims, Wolf said, calling the guideline range of 151 to 188 months appropriate.

After the hearing, both attorneys said they believed the judge issued a fair compromise.

Wolf said she was pleased that Stengal ordered restitution of $2,500 to two girls who were not known to Binck but had been identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

John Kelleghan, the special agent in charge of investigations for the Philadelphia office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said child pornography cases have become "constant." He said he did not know whether the increase has occurred because technology has given offenders easier access or given investigators more detection tools.

The Binck investigation, the first morphing case prosecuted in the Eastern District, began after a tip from agents in Pittsburgh, where a person with whom Binck had traded images was under scrutiny, Kelleghan said.

The law was put on the books about five years ago to prevent defendants from avoiding prosecution by arguing that the images were not real, Kelleghan said.