Sometimes we have to report disturbing news, and this is one of those times. Now I understand that the law is the law, and certain things shouldn’t affect others just because you did something else bad. But, when a former Ameherst Public School Teacher can keep his pension after pleading guilty for possession of child porn, I draw a line.
Under state law, a public employee must forfeit his/her pension if convicted of a criminal offense involving the laws that apply to his or her office or position. So how, on God’s green earth did he win this!!? You’re telling me that having child porn has nothing to do with the fact that he is around minors all day? There is no provision in the school code that prohibits this behavior? What if he were taking pictures of students? Would he still get to keep it? This guy should be locked away in a dungeon and the key thrown away.
When I was a kid we didn’t read about this garbage every day, people weren’t using their computers for this utter filth. To go further here at Computer Geeks, we have a strong anti-child porn stance, where we report any child pornography to the proper authorities if we see it on ANY computer.
Garney, 67, a former longtime ninth-grade science teacher, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to 11 counts of the purchase and possession of child pornography. He had been identified by federal authorities in 2004 as part of an online investigation of international commercial child pornography websites.
A raid by police of Garney?s home turned up 575 images of child pornography on his home computer and a library of 85 videos of child pornography organized by gender, according to court documents. The materials contained images of children, from toddlers to early teenagers, involved in sexual acts.
Garney was sentenced in February 2008 in Hampshire Superior Court to 2? to 3 years in state prison followed by 10 years probation and was required to register as a sex offender.
He received pension benefits totaling $31,119 from the time of his conviction until his benefits stopped in February 2009 after a retirement system hearing on the matter.
A district court decision upheld the teachers? retirement board decision to stop Garney?s benefits, but that was reversed in Worcester Superior Court last year.
My mother always told me once a predator always a predator so more than likely this pervert will get what’s coming to him, I can only hope we get a call to clean his computer one day and I get to make the call myself. And who knows? A Computer Geeks Legal IT client will probably be my first call!