Researcher sentenced for child porn

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HARTFORD, Conn., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Connecticut aerospace scientist has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for getting children to engage in sexual activity he watched via his computer.

William P. Patrick, 68, of Glastonbury described in an online message how he was able to threaten a 7-year-old girl in the Philippines that he would reveal what she was doing "if she doesn't do what I want," computer records presented by the prosecution indicated.

The computer records indicate Patrick, who has advanced degrees in aeronautics and astronautics, described paying small amounts of money to girls who were abused by men acting at his direction, the Hartford (Conn.) Courant reported Tuesday.

"The horror of choreographing and coercing the sexual assault of a 7-year-old child cannot be overstated," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller wrote in one court document.

Patrick -- who pleaded guilty in June to using the Internet to entice a minor into engaging in sexual activity -- worked for almost four decades at the United Technologies Research Center. His lawyer argued he developed an addiction to pornography due to depression following his forced retirement in 2006.

Prosecutors said Patrick has been attracted to young girls for a long time, and abused a 4-year old girl when he was a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Courant reported.