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Child Porn Nets 72-Year-Old A 17-Year Prison Sentence

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2007

TAMPA - A 72-year-old man was sentenced this morning to 17 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Roger Stowell was arrested at Tampa International Airport in April after returning from a trip to Peru. Authorities say that when Stowell was arrested he had with him a computer thumb-drive containing images of child pornography.

Stowell's wife and children had alerted authorities when they found child pornography on his computer, authorities said. Investigators reported finding thousands of images of child porn on Stowell's computer.

In August, Stowell pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

According to a complaint affidavit, his daughter contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office while he was traveling. The daughter said her mother had concerns about her father's computer activity. Stowell's wife was visiting relatives in Colombia and spoke to detectives by phone.

She told investigators she asked her son to check his father's computer because she was suspicious of things she had seen. She said her husband was secretive but once forgot to cover his computer screen and she saw pictures of nude children.

She said her son found a video of two children having sex, according to the complaint.

Investigators searching Stowell's computer found thousands of pictures and videos of child pornography, including images of children in Russia and the United Kingdom, the complaint states.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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