York County man sentenced to 8 years in child porn case

The Lake Wylie man who had more than 200 pictures and videos of child pornography on his computer when arrested in 2013 will spend eight years in prison.

Gregory Lingen, 35, of 1849 Kilkenny Drive, pleaded guilty in October in federal court to having pictures of children as young as 7. He also admitted to uploading the pornographic videos to the YouTube website. He could have faced as many as 20 years in prison for the crimes.

Besides the 97-month prison sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Anderson, Lingen also was fined $8,000, said Jamie Schoen, the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.

Police working as part of a special task force targeting crimes against children and YouTube officials saw the pornography and began an investigation. Lingen admitted to police immediately that he possessed the child pornography and was arrested.

He was released on bond soon after his March 2013 arrest and has been free ever since, including remaining free awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in October.

Lingen, married with children, worked for a Charlotte homebuilder at the time but lost his job because of his arrest, according to court documents. He then took a job with a Charlotte-based company that cleans yards of dog waste during the two years he has been free on bond.

His family, clergy and others argued in letters sent to court officials that Lingen should receive no jail time or a lesser sentence because he was not a predator and had voluntarily sought treatment for sex offenders even before pleading guilty.

But prosecutors balked at the attempt to go below the federal sentencing guidelines for sentencing, and Judge Anderson also denied Lingen’s motion for a lesser sentence or no prison time.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 2:06 PM with the headline "York County man sentenced to 8 years in child porn case."