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Pedophile Babysitter From Nebraska Sentenced to 42 Years in Prison For Producing Child Porn

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A 47-year-old Dwight man who made child pornography videos of an infant he babysat told a federal judge at his sentencing in Lincoln on Wednesday that only once he was jailed was he able to break away from his addiction.

Michael McCullar admitted he started producing child pornographic images of the girl when she was 18 months old and made five or six videos of her, sharing them with others on the dark web. 

“I don’t think you can use the term ‘monster’ any more accurately,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said, in arguing for a 50-year sentence.

He said McCullar took advantage of an 18-month-old child continuously for over a year, had a substantial library of child pornography and sent emails to people in an online forum about what he was doing and potential grooming of another child. 

“This person is a predator. This person has preyed on a child. An infant child,” Russell said.

Justin Eichmann, McCullar’s attorney, said his heart went out to the family; he couldn’t say anything good about the conduct.

“It’s heinous,” he said. 

Eichmann argued for a sentence that would allow McCullar to get out in his early 80s. 

McCullar didn’t ask for a specific sentence but told Chief U.S. District Judge John Gerrard he was profoundly sorry.

“This was nothing short of destruction,” he said. “Words fail me completely in how to express my sorrow and regret of the wrong I did to the victim.”

McCullar said he has a strong desire to fix what is broken with time and treatment. 

In the end, Gerrard sentenced him to nearly 42 years — 30 years for the victim he took photos and videos of, and 11 years and eight months for the videos and images of other children he downloaded online — calling it one of the “most egregious crimes that this court sees.” 

This wasn’t watching videos, which he said was in itself horrendous. This involved the sexual touching and assault of someone under 2 years old, the judge said. 

“If courts cannot protect the most vulnerable in this society, little children, there is no other institution left to do so,” Gerrard said. 

And the child wasn’t the only victim, he said. Her family was left with this devastation, too. The judge said he also considered McCullar’s good work history and lack of a prior criminal record.

“You are truly one of those Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydes. But it is the dark Mr. Hyde that’s being sentenced here today,” Gerrard said. 

As part of McCullar’s sentence, he also was ordered to pay restitution of $154,136, plus $30,000 in assessments. He also will be subject to supervised release for the rest of his life when he gets out. 

In February 2019, special agents of the Homeland Security Investigations office in Omaha got a tip from agents in Boston, conducting an investigation into people using various chat rooms and dark web internet sites to discuss and trade child pornography.

They said they initiated a conversation with a man later identified as McCullar, who had shared self-produced images and provided images to the agent.

That same month, agents in Nebraska served a federal search warrant at his home in Dwight while McCullar was in Florida on a business trip.

Agents found McCullar in Tampa and brought him back to Nebraska. In an interview, he admitted to producing and sharing the images.

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Written by G Raymond

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