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A Big Island man who admits he videotaped himself sexually assaulting three children when they were 3, 5 and 6 years old, then traded the images online with other child pornographers, got access to two of the kids by befriending their young, single mother at church and volunteering to babysit them, said federal prosecutor Amy Olson.
A federal judge sentenced Daniel Guerrero Seguerre, III Wednesday to 30 years in prison for three counts of producing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra also ordered Seguerre, 28, to undergo probation-like court supervision for the rest of his life after he completes his prison term. However, Seguerre may never get out from behind bars under various federal laws.
The government could ask the court to keep Seguerre in prison after he completes his prison sentence under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act designed to protect children from sexually dangerous people.
Ezra said Seguerre is a prime candidate for a court to declare him a sexually dangerous person given what he said is Seguerre’s “despicable behavior” and sex criminals’ high propensity to re-offend.
“The enormity of the defendant’s wrongdoing is so huge it defies description,” Ezra said.
In addition, Seguerre is facing multiple sex assault charges in state court involving the same three children plus a fourth from November 2003 to September 2009 when the kids were as young as 4 months old to 8 years old. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Hilo last month. A state judge scheduled a May trial date.
The mother of two of the children told Ezra no words can describe the hurt Seguerre caused her and her kids.
Seguerre apologized in court yesterday and said he hopes his victims can someday forgive him. And in a letter to the court he said he hopes the children grow up and forget what he did to them.
The mother of the kids said that even through their smiling faces, she can tell the children haven’t forgotten.
Seguerre’s lawyer Pamela Byrne said he had a horrible childhood and was sexually assaulted while growing up on the Big Island and Oahu.
Olson said Seguerre admitted sexually assaulting seven children, one when the child was just 18 months old.
“He is among the worst of the worst,” Olson said.
She said Seguerre coerced the children, who are seen on video crying and screaming in pain, by bribing them with candy, fast food and ice cream. When FBI agents arrested him at his home in September 2009, two of the victims were with him, she said.
Olson said Seguerre produced made-to-order videos requested by his fellow child pornographers.
Authorities recovered more than 200,000 still images and more than three thousand videos of child pornography from Seguerre’s computer hard drive. In some of the videos Seguerre received online, children were sexually assaulted as the perpetrator holds a knife to their throats, Olson said.
