Madras man gets 60 days for child pornography

A 58-year-old Madras man has been sentenced to two months in jail for downloading a dozen child pornography images, a Jefferson County prosecutor said Friday.

Timothy Eugene Schnell pleaded no contest Thursday to three Class C felony counts of second-degree encouraging child sexual abuse before Senior Judge Daniel Ahern, Chief Deputy District Attorney Brentley Foster said. Eight other counts were dismissed under terms of a plea deal.

Schnell, who has no prior criminal history, came to the attention of investigators in Madras last month through a tip from the Oregon Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which got information that Schnell had uploaded a pornographic image of a child to his Microsoft OneNote account, Foster said.

Search warrants were obtained to review the contents of that account, along with Schnell’s computer and cellphone, which led to discovery of a total of 12 images, the prosecutor said.

An investigation revealed that while Schnell possessed the images, he did not create them or share them with others, Foster added.

Schnell was sentenced immediately after entering his no-contest plea. Foster told the judge Schnell put the images in a separate folder on his computer, so there was no chance his posssession was accidental.

The prosecutor asked the judge to impose the 60-day jail term established under the state’s criminal sentencing guidelines, along with two years of supervised probation and conditions that he undergo sex offender treatment, have no internet access without his probation officer’s approval, have no contact with minors and possess no pornography during his probation

Foster said he also played in court a recorded jail call in which Schnell complained about being in jail for his “victimless crime.” The deputy district attorney said Schnell possessed real images of real children being victimized in the worst ways possible.

Schnell, respresented by defense attorney Jason Munn, apologized to the judge for his statement. Foster said Ahern admonished Schnell about the seriousness of his actions and sentenced him as the prosecution had recommended. Schnell also will be required to register as a sex offender.

Foster said in a news release the district attorney’s office wants to recognize the Oregon DOJ’s task force, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Madras police and the Oregon State police “for their excellent work in this investigation.”