Idaho man’s sentence in child porn case ‘reflects the seriousness of his crimes’
A Caldwell man will spend 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of possessing child pornography, according to a news release.
Kenneth Rowe, 51, will also face supervised release for the rest of his life after imprisonment, and was ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution to victims, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.
Rowe pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child pornography in October. He was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye on Tuesday.
In May 2020, a witness reported seeing child pornography on a cellphone that belonged to Rowe after he left it in her living room, according to the plea agreement. The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force subsequently obtained a search warrant and found more than 1,000 files of child pornography.
The task force also found “evidence that Rowe had used a messaging application to trade child pornography files with other people and had discussed his desire to sexually abuse a child,” the release said.
In 1995, Rowe was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 in Stockton, California, according to the plea agreement. He also was convicted previously of possession of child pornography and had three convictions for failure to register as a sex offender, said Cassandra Fulghum, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson.
“Mr. Rowe’s sentence reflects the seriousness of his crimes and the enduring harm caused when offenders record, preserve, and share images of their abhorrent exploitation of innocent children,” said U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez in the release.
Registering as a sex offender also was part of Rowe’s punishment in this case.
