Auburn man pleads guilty to child pornography collection

An Auburn man who amassed a collection of more than 400 child pornography videos pleaded guilty on Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Stephen Pennington, 41, admitted to a federal agent who went to his apartment in Auburn on May 17, 2012 that he liked to “look at, and download pictures of, young girls on the computer,” according to court records.

Federal authorities began investigating Pennington, who moved to Auburn from Las Vegas in 2010, after an agent found child pornography was being made available for sharing online from an internet connection at Pennington’s home.

They later seized two of Pennington’s computers and discovered more than 400 videos and 100 still images of child pornography, including at least one video of an 8-year-old girl being sexually abused by her biological father, court records show.

Pennington is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge George Singal on Feb. 24. The charge of possession of child pornography is punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison.

Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:

[email protected]

Twitter: @scottddolan

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