Friday, Judge Patrick Clifford sentenced Waterford’s Teddy Childers, Jr., 57, to one year in jail followed by 10 years of strict probation on a charge of possessing child pornography, and ordered Childers to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years.
The arrest came as a shock to Childers’ daughter, who described her father as her “hero” in a document submitted to the court. Clifford said Childers had a minimal criminal record and sentenced Childers to one year in prison – the mandatory minimum for the charge of third-degree possession of child pornography.
“I just want to apologize for the embarrassment I brought on my family and myself,” Childers said at the sentencing. “Jail is no piece of cake at my age. But I plan to pick myself up and do what I can to right myself.”
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According to court records, in 2012 the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Glynco, Ga, was conducting an undercover investigation where it was sending and receiving child pornography to suspects who were consuming the illegal material. One such suspect was Childers, who police tracked by using his IP address to his home at 17 Mullen Hill Road in Quaker Hill.
In May of 2012, police stormed Childers’s home, where they found 129 movie files of pornography featuring prepubescent girls. Childers admitted to downloaded child pornography since February of 2009 and admitted to police he was downloading child pornography when they arrived to search his home. He was formally arrested in July.
Childers’ lawyer, Bruce Sturman, said he suspects Childers’ probation should go “without incident.” He added that the arrest is “out of character” for Childers.
