Portsmouth Man Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Possession

PORTSMOUTH, RI – A 58-year-old Portsmouth man who works as a civilian at Naval Station Newport pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography after admitting to storing hundreds of pornography images on a computer drive owned the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Rhode Island said Thursday.

Authorities said that Donald E. Sly, Jr., stored a total of 487 images of child pornography in his directory on a computer drive used by U.S. Navy personnel at Naval bases throughout the East Coast.

According to information presented to the court, upon discovery of the images on the computer drive, Sly’s access to the drive was suspended, officials said in a news release. He later admitted to Naval criminal investigative service agents that he knowingly possessed the images on the drive that were discovered.

Appearing in court before U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., Sly pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 13, officials announced. Possession of child pornography is punishable up to 20 years in federal possession, five years to lifetime supervised release and a fine up to $250,000.

This Project Safe Childhood case is being by prosecuted Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence P. Donnelly.

The Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative was launched to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children. Through a network of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and advocacy organizations, Project Safe Childhood attempts to protect children by investigating and prosecuting offenders involved in child sexual exploitation.