Larry Vance
The former operator of Chattanooga Brew Tours has been given a 70-month federal prison sentence for distribution of child pornography.
Judge Sandy Mattice said he did not feel that Larry Vance should get more time than his ex-girlfriend who produced the child pornography.
Prosecutor Terra Bay said Vance, while living in Chattanooga, asked the former girlfriend, who was living in North Carolina, to send him explicit photos of her five-year-old son, which she did.
Ms. Bay said Vance then went on Craig's List and "talked about having sex with children and asked if other individuals with children could send pictures of them to him."
She asked for a stronger sentence, saying Vance was "condoning this behavior and encouraging it" via the public Internet - not a private peer to peer file sharing program.
Attorney Myrlene Marsa said Vance "was not doing anything to actually hook up with any of these people. We are not in the business of punishing people for their thoughts."
Judge Mattice said the actions of Vance "had the potential to cause the creation of other child pornography." But he noted that he was not charged with production of child pornography - only distribution.
Ms. Bay called Vance "a greater danger to the community" than the former girlfriend.
Attorney Marsa said Vance had been "extremely remorseful from the start." She said he "has a lot of positive qualities. He is an entrepreneur who operated the brew tour business and one in which dinners were prepared and delivered. She said he also has computer skills.
She said, "He was very upset that he allowed himself to wander into this dark place."
Vance told the judge, "I am very sorry. It sounds horrible and it is horrible." He said he only sent emails "maybe to one or two people" and was found with only two photos depicting child pornography.
He said, "It could have been worse, but it wasn't."
His sentencing range was 70-87 months.
Judge Mattice directed that Vance be on 15 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.