YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - William McCants, 45, was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to 100 counts of sex crimes involving children.
He pled in December to the 100-count indictment that included charges of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, pandering obscenity involving a minor, and pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor.
Judge James Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced McCants to prison at Lorain Correctional Institute, a $15,000 fine and five years post-release control. He also has to register as a 2-tier sex offender for the next 25 years.
McCants is already a registered sex offender after a 2003 conviction in a child endangering case in Hamilton County that had some type of sexual undertone.
McCants was arrested in June 2010 after his estranged wife turned in pornographic material involving minors she found on his computer.
Computer hard-drives and zip drives found during a search by the Youngstown Police Department turned up pornographic images involving children.
McCants, when asked by Judge Evans if he wanted to say anything before sentencing, deffered to his attorney.
Atty. Ross Smith, representing McCants, asked for a 3-to-5 year sentence while Asst. County Prosecutor Natasha Frenchko recommended 16 years.
Frenchko says that there were well over 100 images and videos that depicted children, some of them very young, being raped.
A Youngstown police officer described the images, some involving McCants in sexual situations with children, as disturbing.
Youngstown police attempted without success to identify the children and the parks where some of the images were taken.
Authorities credit his estranged wife for turning in the material she found to police.
McCants lived in Akron at the time of his arrest, but spent time at his estranged wife's home in Youngstown.
William McCants
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