Despite feelings of guilt, Thomas said he continued to show his son the images, not to "set up a molest," he would rationalize, but to educate the boy about what was out there.

"There came a point where he would ask me if he could see it and I would allow him to," Thomas said. "I would say, 'I don't want you to do these things.' "

But before long it happened.

Experts say 35 percent to 40 percent of people who deal in child pornography will try to act on their fantasies.

"These people can get addicted to this, and when they do, it leads to desensitization," said Victor Cline, emeritus professor of the University of Utah psychology department. Cline treats sexual addictions.

"After a while, what was shocking and upsetting becomes acceptable," he said. "They escalate and they start searching out stuff that's more rough and bold. Sooner or later, they start to act out."

Hansen estimates almost all of the 108 child pornography cases his office investigated last year involved pre-pubescent victims. And most of them were linked to other hard-core crimes such as child rape, Hansen said.

"We are seeing pictures of 3- and 4- and 5-year-olds being raped," he said.

The technology has driven a once underground community out into the open, Bell said.

Child pornography can't be that bad, rationalize some criminals, because the Internet has introduced them to hundreds of others who have exactly the same urges.

Court records show that on Aug. 1, 1999, Thomas sexually abused his son for the first time. The boy was 6 at the time.

The molestation continued for more than one year and included several incidents, according to court records. All of them were too graphic to detail in print.

After arresting Thomas and searching his computer, police found files depicting child pornography involving 6-year-old boys, court records state.

Thomas cooperated with police investigators, pleaded guilty to two first-degree felonies and is now waiting his turn to get into the prison's sex offender treatment program. That probably won't happen for several years.

His son is in therapy.

The circles under Thomas' eyes and his tired face display the effects of living in a physical prison for the past several months and the prison that enslaved him in child pornography for the previous three years.

"I've basically traded one prison for another," Thomas said, looking around the small room. "That's the way I look at it. I was in a prison of my own making."

---

Contributing: Linda Thomson, Laura Hancock

---

Next story: Experts see link between child pornography and sexual abuse cases.

---

E-mail: djensen@desnews.com; preavy@desnews.com; mtitze@desnews.com; awelling@desnews.com lindat@desnews.com; lhancock@desnews.com;