On October 23, 2014, former American Airlines pilot Donald Edwin Gallagher, Jr. (St. Petersburg, FL) was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him on two counts of production of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. Additionally, two victims in the matter will receive compensation from the liquidation of his assets as managed by a trustee of a trust fund for two female victims.

He faced a maximum penalty of 30 years’ imprisonment on each production count, 20 years in prison on the distribution count, and up to 10 years for the possession charge.

According to the FBI:

[I]n January 2013 an undercover detective with the St. Petersburg Police Department downloaded approximately 15 files of child pornography from an Internet protocol (IP) address that traced back to Gallagher’s residence in St. Petersburg. Based upon the investigation into the origin of these images, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other local agencies executed a federal search warrant at that residence.

During the search, agents located and seized a laptop computer belonging to Gallagher, as well as hard drives and other digital media, on which agents located thousands of images and hundreds of videos containing child pornography. Upon further investigation and review of Gallagher’s digital media, law enforcement recognized the background in some of the pornographic images and videos as being Gallagher’s residence.

Law enforcement later determined that Gallagher had produced images and videos of two minor victims engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Gallagher stored these images and videos on his various digital devices.

He was arrested on a criminal complaint on July 24, 2013, indicted on December 18, 2013, and convicted on March 13, 2014.

Too light of a sentence?
Or effectually a “life sentence” for the 52 year old former pilot?

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