ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Concerned citizens, who found Patrick Joseph McAloon’s cell phone in a Home Depot, discovered images of a child around three years old being sexually abused.
McAloon called his own phone and when confronted about the photos, he said it was a “wake-up call,” and offered to pay $2,000 to retrieve his phone, according to court documents.
Sixty-seven-year-old McAloon met the concerned citizen and paid them the money, but not before the concerned citizens found hundreds of photos of child sexual abuse.
They notified Homeland Security Investigation agents in November of 2021, according to the Department of Justice.
HSI contacted McAloon, and after a forensic search, agents found 194 files of child sexual abuse material, and 450 files of child exploitation, including age-difficult material.
McAloon pleaded guilty on July 28, 2022, to distributing videos and images of children being abused sexually.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard ordered McAloon to federal prison for 7 years and two months.
His sentence includes paying $15,000 to the victims, as well as, a 10-year term of supervised release.
“This predator fed his perversion through a steady stream of explicit imagery and videos of children being sexually abused,” said K. Jim Phillips, HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge. “Thanks to the dedication of our special agents and the concern of citizens who discovered the imagery, justice is served. Our communities are made safer for children when citizens recognize deviant behaviors and reach out to law enforcement.”
©2022 Cox Media Group
Sign Up
