Ex-sheriff who had child porn sentenced to home monitoring

TACOMA – The former sheriff of Washington state’s second most populous county has been sentenced to 30 days on electronic home monitoring for possession of child pornography.

Retired Pierce County Sheriff Mark French, initially charged with seven counts of possession, pleaded guilty to one felony count Monday in an agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Bryan E. Chushcoff.

The case arose from an international child porn investigation ranging from Dallas to Russia.

“I was on the Internet and viewed some photographs of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and the images were automatically downloaded on the temporary memory of my computer, and I knew that would happen,” French said in a statement filed in court.

French, 55, a native of Shreveport, La., who spent his entire 30-year law enforcement career with the Sheriff’s Office, was booked, fingerprinted and photographed in a gray jail uniform before being released.

He will serve his sentence with his wife at a friend’s home because his houseboat has only a cellular telephone that is incompatible with the monitoring system, defense lawyer Donald W. Winskill said.

French may leave only for medical appointments and other approved trips, and violations could mean jail time or other punishment.

He also must serve 12 months on probation, pay $710 in fines and court costs, provide a DNA sample and continue to undergo counseling.