A former youth educator in Marin County was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for possessing child pornography.
John Morrison, 73, of San Francisco was ordered to surrender to federal authorities by Jan. 13 to begin his sentence, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Abraham Simmons.
The sentence was set as part of a negotiated plea. The prosecution dropped a charge of receiving child porn, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
Until his arrest in March 2017, Morrison was education director for 18 years at the California Film Institute in San Rafael. He taught film classes to youths at the institute and also at local schools and libraries.
Morrison also consulted for the Mill Valley Film Festival Children’s Fest and an international film concern called Kidflix Global. He was also a board member for the Community Media Center of Marin, the nonprofit that provides cable television access and training for residents.
Morrison was targeted by investigators after porn transmissions were linked to his residence. Investigators executed a search warrant there and examined electronic devices.
San Francisco police said Morrison had more than 600 files of child porn on devices at his home. The material included child porn involving “sexual sadism or sexual masochism,” police said.
Morrison admitted to investigators that he used Skype to receive and view child porn, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Weingarten.
“He also admitted that he found individuals on Craigslist who would send him child pornography, and that he had been viewing it for five years,” Weingarten wrote.
The prosecution does not allege that Morrison created any images or molested children himself, but said that as a porn consumer he contributed to the exploitation of children.
“The government is very troubled by the fact that while possessing and viewing images depicting the abuse of children, the defendant served as the Director of Education at the California Film Institute in San Rafael, California,” Weingarten wrote. “In other words, the defendant would come into contact with children every day through his employment, and then go home and view images of young children being sexually and physically victimized and abused.”
Morrison was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco.
Morrison’s public defender, Sophia Whiting, objected to the court condition that he be barred from viewing adult porn without prior approval. She called it an “overbroad deprivation of Mr. Morrison’s liberty.”