Former Ellicott High School teacher sentenced to 4 years for child porn
CALHAN, Colo. (KRDO) -- A former teacher at Ellicott High School has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison after being caught with hundreds of images of child pornography.
Patrick McMahon, 30, was arrested in early January after investigators were alerted by McMahon's ex-wife that he had child porn on an old laptop.
His ex-wife told police that she had seen McMahon looking at the images in 2015 or 2016, but she finally came forward after learning that McMahon was working around children and had started coaching a soccer team, according to an arrest affidavit.
McMahon’s ex-wife said he gave her an old MacBook laptop after he “wiped the drive,” but she was concerned that there might still be illegal materials on the hard drive. The laptop was analyzed by the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Digital Forensics Unit, and that's when the pornography was found. None of the victims appeared to be local, according to the affidavit.
Investigators searched more devices belonging to McMahon and found additional child pornography. In total, 602 images and two video files depicted minor victims previously identified by law enforcement, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
McMahon admitted to investigators that he used the laptop to download the materials from 2008 to 2011.
McMahon was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison earlier this week, according to the Department of Justice. He will also have to serve five years of supervised release, and he'll have to pay $30,000 in restitution to certain victims. McMahon was reportedly free on bond at the time of his sentencing, and he was ordered to surrender to a Bureau of Prisons facility, according to the DOJ. As of Friday, he wasn't in custody.
