AUGUSTA — A 41-year-old Palermo man pleaded guilty Thursday to a child pornography charge from 2012 that his attorney said cost him a 16-year career in the Maine Army National Guard.

Anthony Mangin had been charged with two counts of possession of sexually explicit materials, both from Feb. 2, 2012, in Gardiner, but one was dismissed in exchange for the plea at the Capital Judicial Center.

Judge Valerie Stanfill sentenced Mangin to an initial 90 days in jail with the remainder of the three-year sentence suspended while he spends two years on probation.

The sentence had been negotiated between the Mangin’s attorney, Walter McKee, and the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Frayla Tarpinian.

The conviction makes Mangin subject to a 10-year registration requirement under the state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Tarpinian said members of the Army National Guard had reported images on Mangin’s computer they suspected were sexually explicit materials.

She said Mangin allowed police to take equipment from his Gardiner home and his workplace, and officers with the state police Computer Crimes unit found 25 images of prepubescent girls on a thumb drive, including one where a girl 6 to 8 years old was “performing a sex act on an adult male.”

When Stanfill asked why it took so long for the case to be resolved, Tarpinian told her the Guard computer was federal property and had to be sent to Washington, D.C., to be evaluated and returned. She also said authorities were unable to retrieve anything from it. Tarpinian also said the Maine Computer Crimes Unit had a backlog as well.

“Early on, Mr. Mangin was willing to accept responsibility,” McKee said. Mangin said little at the sentencing hearing.

McKee said the state Department of Health and Human Services did a complete review of Mangin’s family at the time, and allowed him to continue having supervised contact with his own children.

Conditions of probation prohibit Mangin from having contact with children under 16 except his own and from viewing or possessing sexually explicit material or accessing the Internet without his probation officer’s consent.

Stanfill granted Tarpinian’s request for the forfeiture of the items seized from Mangin. Tarpinian said they would be destroyed.

McKee said Mangin, who had no criminal history prior to this, lost his job with the National Guard where he had worked for 16 years. GUARD ME, the Magazine of the Maine National Guard, said Mangin held the rank of sergeant in early 2001.

Mangin is to report to the Kennebec County jail Jan. 28 to begin his sentence.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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