© Provided by WXIX Cincinnati Nicholas Orihuela, 34, will serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 35 counts of child pornography.
BATAVIA, Ohio (WXIX) – A man will serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to 35 counts of child pornography.
Nicholas Orihuela, 34, appeared in court Tuesday where he heard the sentence. Without a plea deal, he was facing more than 284 years in prison.
Orihuela was indicted by a grand jury earlier this year in January.
Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve described the child porn case as one of the largest he had ever seen.
“This is a very significant case,” he said.
Tekulve says the investigation started on Jan. 18 and moved quickly.
“Law enforcement received a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which led them to this defendant,” he explained.
The tip alleged Orihuela had uploaded and shared child porn from his home.
In court Tuesday, his attorney, Richard Campbell, spoke about Orihuela’s cooperation with authorities.
“He was fully cooperative with police,” Campbell said. “Knew why they were there. Identified himself and help them identify the objects there were looking for.”
Sheriff’s detectives obtained a warrant and searched Orihuela’s home thereafter.
Investigators allegedly found large quantities of uploaded sexual videos and images of young children.
“Additionally, within the defendant’s bedroom, officers found a variety of children’s toys, stuffed animals, a sketch pad of hand-drawings of minors in a state of nudity or engaged in sexual acts and young female’s underwear,” Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Katie Terpstra said in court.
Since his arrest, Orihuela said he had time to think about his actions while in jail and wanted to make a statement before he was sentenced.
“And I understand not everybody in this room or who is watching the broadcast on the news channel behind me is going to believe me when I say this, I am deeply ashamed of what I had done,” Orihuela stated.
Judge Kevin Miles said due to the sheer amount of child pornography that Orihuela had, he felt there was a good chance he would do it again if he were free.
“I think you need to be removed from some society, sir and I’m going to do that,” the judge said to Orihuela.
This is a mandatory sentence with no earned reduction to that time.
He does get credit for 139 days he’s been in jail since his arrest, but the 34-year-old will not be a free man before he turns 54.
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