Michael V. Fortino, 47, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty Feb. 26 to a charge of transporting child pornography across state lines, and faced up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.
In sentencing Mr. Fortino, U.S. District Judge Jimm Larry Hendren also ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine and to serve 20 years supervised release after he gets out of prison.
Mr. Fortino previously admitted that, while traveling for his work as an author and speaker, he took his laptop computer from Texas to Fayetteville for a speaking engagement Nov. 4, 2005. The computer contained images of child pornography that Mr. Fortino admitted were previously downloaded from the Internet.
Mr. Fortino was president and founder of The Center for Lifestyle Management, and had offices in New York and San Francisco. He was featured on all the major television networks, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
AP
9 comments:
He is (was?) my neighbor. Imagine my family's surprise and dismay when we discovered earlier this year that we were living next to a sex offender. Although I wouldn't wish 11 years in federal prison on anybody, I find it hard to feel too much sympathy for a guy who had us over for sundaes (with our two young daughters) and actively deceived us. When I realized what he was about and deduced that he was probably trying to groom us for an opportunity to check out our daughters it was pretty much a no brainer to establish a clear and impermeable boundary between us and him. Ultimately, he should have known better and not given in to his deviant sexual impulses. I guess he's probably realizing that now...
I knew him in college and he was always a real piece of garbage as far as I and many others are concerned. It was difficult to be in the same room with him.
To the family member who wrote the above...you are just as delusional as Michael. Not only did he download child porn, he filmed his friends little children naked and made two tapes of it. Now, accordong to an Arkansas paper, Michel will be brought up again for additional sentencing. The paper stated he "faked letters requesting leniency" these fake letters were allegedly from...the mother of his child (not his wife), the parent of a victim and a Pittsburgh police officer. All three letters were fake.
Wake up...Fortino is a liar, a fraud, a criminal, a perfert, a con man and now..."someones girlfriend ! "
I am sure that the families of these exploited children will cry out for a stiffer sentence. Mike is obviously making one bad decision after another. I will be very surprised if the Judge does not increase the sentence towards the maximum allowable under the circumstance.
Mike has hurt many people and obviously has lost any character and personal values he had possessed. This continues to be a hard to believe and crazy story.
Judge Maximizes Sentence For Child Porn Convict
Fortino forged letters, misled court officials
This article was published on Friday, October 12, 2007 10:43 PM CDT in News
By Ron Wood
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- It's a really, really, really bad idea to lie to the federal judge who's going to sentence you.
Michael Fortino found that out the hard way Friday.
The convicted child pornographer went from having a sentence less than the minimum recommended under federal sentencing guidelines go to the maximum after U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren learned Fortino had sent him forged letters urging leniency.
It got worse when Hendren learned Fortino was still lying to just about everybody he's come in contact with.
Hendren learned Friday that Fortino had forged a letter from his own attorney, Thomas Ceraso, to the court and lied about owing Ceraso $50,000. Ceraso quit Friday, citing irreconcilable conflict between himself and Fortino.
Fortino forged a letter from his psychologist.
Fortino lied to probation officers about his net worth, understating his assets by at least $500,000.
The judge remarked at one point he didn't think there was anybody Fortino hasn't lied to and that there is "a serious problem with Mr. Fortino's ability to provide the truth."
Hendren said Fortino's intentionally misleading the court "strikes at the heart of our justice system."
"I regard what has happened here to be extremely serious," Hendren said.
Hendren sentenced Fortino, 46, to 20 years in federal prison followed by supervised probation for life and a fine of $250,000, the maximum.
Hendren had initially sentenced Fortino last week to 11 years in prison, the minimum recommended, and fined him $10,000, down from the $17,000 recommended. The judge set aside that sentence after learning of the forged letters and opted to resentence Fortino, based on the new information.
Hendren had reduced the fine because officials believed, based on financial information provided by Fortino, that he couldn't afford to pay a fine. That was before they discovered he hadn't told them about several bank accounts and a dozen or so pieces of real estate he owned.
No mention was made of a "mini yacht" Fortino owned or his 9,000-square-foot home that was featured in a newspaper article a couple of years ago.
Hendren also ruled Fortino must register as a sex offender and seek treatment. He can't have unsupervised contact with minors or access to the Internet.
Fortino could face more charges based on the lies and forgeries, prosecutors said.
Fortino was arrested by Fayetteville police Nov. 30, 2005, after being contacted by a computer repair shop. They found more than 700 images of child porn on Fortino's computer, many showing the rape and sodomy of infants as young as 4 months. They also found videos of young girls undressing that he'd made by hiding a camera in a changing room.
Fortino's Web site at the Center for Lifestyle Management said at the time of his arrest he was an author and speaker whose clients include Exxon, Motorola, the Air Force and AT&T.
Prosecutors said they're starting to have doubts about those claims.
Legal Lingo
Federal Sentencing Guidelines
Rules designed to ensure similar crimes are punished similarly nationwide in the federal courts. The guidelines are based on the criminal conduct and the convicted person's criminal history.
Source: Staff Report
Mike is finally getting everything he deserves. He is a sociopathic jackass who thinks that he is above the law. Unfortunately, I went out with him ONCE and only once in college. It wasn't really a date. I was with him for fifteen minutes before he attacked me and said, "Go ahead. Scream. I'll scream with you. No one will hear you." Well Mike. Now it is your turn. Go ahead, Scream. Someone will scream with you and no one is going to hear you.
Mike is going to be doing A lot of screaming in the 'pokey':)
What is Tamara doing these days ?
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