Man gets 12 years in prison for child porn

CINCINNATI - A Cincinnati man was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison Tuesday for possessing child pornography.

Martin Nathan Ross, 57, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 148 months in prison by Judge Michael Barrett.

Ross’ sentence was enhanced because he has been previously convicted of sex offenses involving minors. Also, Barrett ordered Ross to remain under court supervision for the rest of his life after he is released from prison.

The sentence was announced Tuesday by the Greater Cincinnati Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which is comprised of multiple law enforcement agencies from throughout the region.

The criminal probe began In September 2011, when an undercover officer was investigating activities on a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing network.

During the investigation, the officer made contact with an individual using the screen name “Olderswohioguy” later identified as Ross. Ross offered to share folders with the undercover officer, which he did.

One folder included numerous images and videos depicting child pornography. The videos in particular depicted children less than 12 years of age involved in various sexual acts.

Shortly thereafter, FBI agents also connected with Ross via the same P2P network and were also provided with a password to access the folders shared by Ross. The images and videos shared and/or possessed by Ross involved children as young as four years of age and none appeared to be older than 13.

Ross’s collection included multiple images of prepubescent children being raped or sodomized by adult males. One video depicted a child, approximately nine years old, with his hands and feet bound behind his back with a rope while an adult male sexually molested him.

Further investigation into Ross revealed he is a registered sex offender because of a 2003 conviction for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material.

Ross was sentenced to five years in prison on August 2003, and was released on parole in March 2008. Ross was discharged from supervision in October 2009.

Ross was arrested in November 2011 and has been in custody since his arrest. in July, Ross pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

Agencies participating in the task besides the FBI are the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office., Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, and the police departments in Amberley Village, Blue Ash, Cincinnati and West Chester Township.