Crime & Safety
Strongsville Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography
Kenneth Thorp admits to having, sharing photos online
A Strongsville man pleaded guilty today to 23 counts of child pornography.
Kenneth Thorp, 32, 8809 Webster Rd., was indicted as part of in November, orchestrated by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children task force.
Thorp entered guilty pleas to 11 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, 12 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, and one count of possessing criminal tools, according to Maria Russo, spokeswoman for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason.
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Russo said that on May 19, Thorp disseminated six child pornographic photographs to an undercover Ohio ICAC Investigator through a file-sharing network.
On June 16, Ohio ICAC investigators, along with members of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and the Cleveland Police Department, executed a search warrant at Thorp's Strongsville home.
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Investigators performed a forensic examination of Thorp's laptop computer and discovered more than 50 videos and photographs.
Thorp will be sentenced by Judge Nancy Margaret Russo Feb. 1. He will be classified as a Tier II sexual offender and will be required to register his address and place of employment with the county sheriff's office where he resides every 180 days for the next 25 years.
Two other Strongsville men were indicted in Operation Fall Clean Sweep, a 10-month investigation.
Two other Strongsville men were among the 26 adults indicted in the latest sweep. They are Andiry Prokhna, 21, William Kraatz, 23.
Kraatz had already pleaded guilty to sexual contact with a minor before being indicted on 140 counts of child pornography in November.
Kraatz was one of four repeat offenders indicted in the operation. He was sentenced last April to one year probation for his previous sex offense, but violated that probation in June and was re-sentenced to six months in prison.
Using new technology, detectives identified IP addresses being used to trade and download child pornography pictures and videos. From December 2010 through October 2011, 46 law enforcement officers from 16 law enforcement agencies executed 36 search warrants on homes in 17 communities throughout Cuyahoga County.
Officers seized 1,501 items such as computers, CDs, DVDs, cell phones, flash drives, floppy disks, digital cameras, video gaming systems, VHS tapes, and weapons. Eighty-nine additional cases have been referred to 59 law enforcement agencies outside of Cuyahoga County, including one in Illinois.
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