Saratoga Springs man who had 'sadistic' child porn sentenced to prison

SALT LAKE CITY — A Saratoga Springs man will spend 14 years behind bars for viewing and trading child pornography that included sadistic images of young children.

Jeffrey David Pirente, 44, had at least 600 images of child pornography on his computer and admitted using an advanced peer-to-peer network to send the images to others. U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ordered the prison sentence Monday after Pirente pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. He also will be on probation for 24 years upon his release and must pay $1,000 in restitution to one victim.

Pirente used the file sharing program to share his collection with as many as 153 others and exchanged chats with them for months. 

Pirente also took inappropriate photos of a 13-year-old girl while she slept and has talked about wanting to sexually abuse girls and boys, according to a sentencing report.

"The only way to protect these potential victims is through a sentence that will keep him from them as long as possible," the report said.

That Pirente completed an LDS 12-step addiction recovery program and that he's helping other inmates and reading scriptures shouldn't weigh in his favor, prosecutors argued. They say he continues to minimize his behavior and deny his attraction to children.

"But what is starkly missing from the statement by (the) defendant is any acceptance of responsibility for his conduct and that he clearly has not faced his own issues," the report said.

— Dennis Romboy