Ex-Trinity coach Patrick Newman sentenced

Rejecting the government's recommendation that he serve the equivalent of a life sentence, a federal judge Wednesday instead ordered fired Trinity High School teacher Patrick Newman to serve 42 years in prison for exploiting 16 boys to produce child pornography.

After emotional testimony by the parents of one victim - and a long statement by Newman himself - U.S. District Judge David J. Hale spared him the 120-year term recommended by the prosecution, citing Newman's cooperation after his arrest last June and the fact he didn't use violence in the offenses.

But noting that Newman was "prolific and relentless" in pursuit of young victims across the United States and even in Europe, Hale also declined to impose the mandatory minimum of 15 years urged by Newman's defense.

There is no parole in the federal system and even with credit for time served, Newman, 33, won't be eligible for release until he is about 70 years old. Newman, who also was a football coach at Trinity, was fired after his arrest.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jo Lawless, urging the longer sentence, said no defendant in the Western District of Kentucky had ever been charged with child pornography distribution involving so many children.

Addressing the court, the father of one victim called Newman a "disgusting pedophile" and said that because he had shared videos of his son with others, "the hurt will continue for a lifetime."

"There is no cure for what you have done," said the man, who asked Hale to impose a life sentence.

The boy's mother, who sobbed as she read her statement, said Newman had "stolen innocence from my child that can never be replaced."

"I want you to pay," she said, "because we will pay forever."

Newman pleaded guilty in August to producing, possessing and distributing child pornography as well as to enticing a minor online for instructing a 13-year-old Texas boy to film 10 videos of himself performing sexual acts.

Three Kentucky boys were among the victims, including a 15-year-old who lives in the Louisville area. None were former students, his lawyer, Brian Butler, has said.

Newman admitted having actual sexual contact with three minors and to using video that he got from one boy to entice others to share images of themselves.

Newman instructed victims to perform graphic acts, including penetrating themselves with foreign objects, and sent a 16-year-old in Kentucky a video of himself masturbating, according to court records.

He never had sex with students at Our Lady of Lourdes, where he taught initially, but at Trinity, he said, he flirted with one student, he said, joking with him about how his voice was cracking.

Newman, who wore ankle shackles and a striped jail uniform in court, told Hale that as a "practicing Catholic," he knew that what he did was wrong.

But in a clear, strong voice, he told how he had been confused about his sexual identity since childhood and had no one to talk to about it.

"I didn't think I could trust the sanctity of the confessional booth," he said. "I had no one to turn to."

He said he began by talking to teen-aged boys in chat rooms who were struggling with their own sexual orientations but progressed to trading sexual images and eventually having sex with a few of them.

"I don't have the words to say I am sorry," he said. "I don't think those words exist."

Butler said the 120 years sought by the government was "astronomical"  and amounted to a death sentence.

Butler noted that Newman had helped "countless children" at both schools and that about 20 "God-fearing, church-going" people - including family members, lawyers and a state court prosecutor - came to Hale's courtroom to support him.

"A lot of people's lives are better because of Patrick Newman," Butler said.

He said that his client deserved a significant punishment, but that none of the victims were snatched off the street and that a defendant convicted of raping a child in state court would be eligible for parole in 20 years.

Lawless acknowledged Newman didn't kidnap or use force on any of his victims but she said that penalties imposed in state court are irrelevant.

"He didn't just offend in the commonwealth of Kentucky, but across the country and even in Europe," she said. "His reach was far and wide and the destruction he did was great."

She also said he exploited what he knew about teens as a teacher - and his knowledge of the struggles faced by young gay males - to entice his victims, and that the images he shared will haunt them forever.

"At the end of the day, he has irreparably harmed many young boys and their families," she said.

The victims, ages 12 to 17,  lived in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina, New York, Utah and Oregon as well as the United Kingdom.

Lawless also said Newman initially misled investigators by telling them his misconduct had been limited to online communication.

"That was not true," Lawless said. "He met multiple boys for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity. With at least one, he produced video recordings of their sex acts and then traded those images with others – some of whom were minors – in an effort to induce them to produce sexually explicit materials and send to him. He engaged in all of this conduct while simultaneously trading and acquiring significant quantities of child pornography videos and still images."

The case began last January when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a tip from Twitter about an upload of child porn connected to an account on Vine — a social media video sharing service — linked to the Texas boy. Dallas police interviewed the teen, leading them to Newman.

Newman told Homeland Security Investigations agents in June that he is sexually attracted to boys ages 13 to 17 but denied abusing any of them in person, according to an affidavit. He also told them he used social media and phone messaging applications including Snapchat and Kik to exchange explicit content with the youths.

A forensic exam of Newman's cell phone revealed he shared child porn with more than 50 people and stored 87 child porn videos on a cloud-based storage service, according to the government.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at awolfson@courier-journal.com or (502) 396-5853.