A county man was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 31, in Butler County Common Pleas Court to serve 18 to 36 months in state prison after pleading guilty to 10 of the 25 felony child pornography charges filed against him last year.

James Patrick McCarthy, 56, of Mars, was sentenced to serve 10 concurrent 18-to-36-month terms in prison followed by 60 months of probation and pay a $500 fine.

He also was found to be a Tier 1 sexual offender under Megan’s Law and ordered to appear at a state police office every year for a period of 15 years after he was to have his photo taken.

Judge Kelley Streib ordered the sentence after hearing arguments from Angela Lynn Raver, a Pennsylvania deputy attorney general; Maura Palumbi, a public defender; and a statement from McCarthy.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office filed 25 counts of child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility in June 2021 after investigators received information in May 2021 that child pornography had been sent to an IP address in Mars, and traced the IP address to McCarthy's home on Pittsburgh Street.

Raver asked Streib to impose 18-to-24-month concurrent prison sentences on nine of the charges followed by five years of probation for the 10th charge.

She said McCarthy has received “substantial benefit” by pleading guilty and by not being charged for each of the “hundreds” of photos and videos that were found stored on his computer and other devices. She said McCarthy admitted to viewing child pornography for nine years.

The 10 charges he pleaded guilty to involved a different child victim in each of the 10 photos or videos, Raver said.

Each time a photo or video is shared, that victim in “revictimized” and creates a market for the sexual abuse of children, Raver said.

Palumbi said McCarthy thanked investigators for intervening when he was taken into custody. He also had subscription drug abuse problem, she said.

McCarthy has undergone a drug and alcohol evaluation, intensive outpatient treatment program for mental health and drug use issues and adult sex offender treatment, she said.

In addition, McCarthy he has been meeting weekly with a pornography addiction group and sometimes attends anonymous sessions for sex addicts.

“I thank the state for doing its job,” McCarthy said, “because of that, I’m not the same guy I was before.”

He asked Streib for mercy, saying the 19 days he spent in jail following his arrest last year changed him.

“It corrected my behavior,” McCarthy said.

Palumbi asked Streib to consider sentencing him to house arrest or sentencing him to serve his sentence in the county prison. She said McCarthy has done everything he can to avoid becoming a repeat offender.

Raver said the charges against McCarthy and his Tier 1 status make him ineligible for house arrest.