A 47-year-old security guard who was caught with child pornography on his computer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime probation.
In December 2011, Tucson police detectives learned child porn was being shared or downloaded to a house next to where Mitchell Beiro was living. They further discovered Beiro had been using an unsecure wireless network to download the files.
When the detectives got a search warrant for Beiro's home, he confessed they would find "hundreds" of child porn videos and images.
Court documents provide details of 19 videos found during a forensic examination.
Some of the children were barely old enough to walk.
Beiro pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor under 15 and was sentenced by Judge Michael Cruikshank.
One of the counts carried a mandatory prison sentence of between 10 and 24 years.
The plea agreement said Beiro could be placed on probation for between five years or lifetime on the other count. It also said he could be sent to prison for between five and 15 years.
Some of you might be appalled Beiro was given probation.
However, prosecutors often design plea agreements in sex offender cases that call for prison with a consecutive sentence of probation. (They call it a "probation tail.")
They know that defendants who serve a straight prison sentence are only going to be on community service (parole) for so long. Someone with a probation tail is going to be monitored significantly longer — especially if they can convince the judge to impose a lifetime probation tail.
According to court documents, Beiro had never been arrested before, doesn't do drugs or alcohol, has serious health issues and is remorseful.
"I welcome treatment of any kind," Beiro told a probation officer. "I want to be a productive member of society."
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