Sentencing delayed for man who possessed child pornography

LOS ANGELES – A sentencing hearing has been delayed for a Los Angeles County man who admitted to possessing thousands of images and videos of child pornography that including some depicting children under the age of 2.

Richard Celestino of Green Valley, a community on the eastern edge of the Antelope Valley, pleaded guilty in July to possession of child pornography, admitting that he used a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to distribute and possess more than 8,000 illicit images and videos.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson granted a one-day delay in sentencing Celestino to allow attorneys to review some of the conditions of the 48-year-old defendant’s post-prison supervision.

Prosecutors are recommending that Anderson sentence Celestino to six years behind bars, followed by federal supervision for the rest of his life. The government also requests that the defendant be ordered to pay a $5,000 special assessment pursuant to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, plus restitution in an amount to be determined at a later hearing.

Celestino’s defense attorney wants a three-year federal prison term, followed by lifetime supervision.

“The children depicted in these images and videos are real children,” prosecutors wrote in court papers, although it is not alleged that the defendant had any personal contact with any of them.

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