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LISBON -- A local photographer was sentenced Tuesday to more than 15 years in prison on federal child pornography charges.
David C. Grunden, 35, was sentenced to 188 months -- 15 years and eight months --in prison after previously pleading guilty in federal district court in Cleveland to receiving child pornography, advertising child pornography and possessing child pornography.
Federal prosecutors were seeking a minimum prison sentence of 292 months to 365 months, while Grunden's attorney asked the judge to sentence him to 121 to 151 months based on sentencing guidelines.
The defense attorney's sentencing memorandum asked the judge to take Grunden's history of anxiety and depression into consideration as well as the fact he had been undergoing mental health counseling and treatment since his arrest.
"Mr. Grunden repressed his mental and emotional issues that ultimately channeled themselves in a horrific way. He appreciates the seriousness of his actions and understands that real human victims were affected," the defense attorney wrote, according to WKBN.
Grunden operated DCG Photography out of his West Washington Street home. FBI agents raided the home on Oct. 30, 2018, following a nine-month investigation that included placing a surveillance camera outside his home to monitor who was coming and going.
Court records show that between 2014 and 2017 Grunden received numerous computer images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, with 179 images of child pornography found by investigators. He admitted to using photographs of children he took as well as ones obtained from the internet and posting them online in exchange for receiving child pornography from others.
During the first five months of 2018 he solicited adults to be recorded for videos having sex with children. Other advertisements sought "brutal, sadistic sick-minded men" and others to appear in hurtcore and snuff videos. Hurtcore is a genre where torture and humiliation are inflicted, mostly on children. A snuff video is where the person is actually murdered or commits suicide.