PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A former educator, who investigators claim had been downloading child pornography for years, was sentenced to 366 days in prison.
Andres Caputo said he was deeply apologetic and was focused on treatment to become a valued and productive member of society during his sentencing on Thursday with Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Karin J. Immergut.
Caputo had faced 20 separate counts of first-degree encouraging child sexual abuse. According to court documents, Caputo unlawfully and knowingly duplicated multiple visual recordings of child pornography. Officials said that during a search of his electronic devices located at his residence in Southeast Portland, members of the Clackamas County INTERCEPT (Inter-agency Child Exploitation Prevention Team) found hundreds of images of child pornography.
Caputo was sentenced to one year, plus a day in prison. He could have faced a much lengthier sentence had the case gone to trial and had he been convicted of each individual count. Judge Immergut presided over some of the plea negotiations between Caputo, his criminal defense attorney and the DA’s Office.
During his sentencing, it was revealed that prior to his arrest, Caputo had no criminal history. Immergut emphasized the damage inflicted each time someone downloads, views and shares child pornography.
“By being a part of the demand (of people looking at child pornography) you have a significant impact on the harm to children around the world,” Immergut said.
Investigators never found any evidence that showed Captuo had illegal or inappropriate contact with children.
The McMinnville School District released the following statement to KOIN 6 News on Thursday after Caputo’s sentencing:
“Mr. Caputo was employed as a teacher for the McMinnville School District from August of 2010 to June of 2016. Mr. Caputo resigned in May of 2016 after accepting a position with another district. During his time in McMinnville, he worked with post-high school students.”
When given the chance to speak in court, Caputo said he “wanted to apologize and make it clear that I am dedicated to making sure that this never happens again.”
He added, “I want to be a helpful and productive member of society.”
When Caputo is released from prison he will be on three years of formal probation and will need to comply with sex offender registration matters.
Court records show that Caputo was viewing the child pornography files using a Peer-to-Peer file sharing program. The investigation started when INTERCEPT officers identified an IP address of someone with files of child porn.
Detectives used special, undercover software to download the child porn from the IP later associated to Caputo. Some of the videos included images of children potentially as young as 8 years old, according to court documents.