A Schuylkill County judge sentenced an argumentative Shenandoah man to 25-50 years in state prison Tuesday afternoon following his January conviction on charges he possessed thousands of images depicting child pornography.
Antony Cuff was convicted by a Schuylkill County jury on 17 counts of possession child pornography and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.
“I have little doubt that if you were released to society that you would prey on children,” Common Pleas Judge Christopher Hobbs told the 47-year-old Cuff inside Courtroom 4 today. “These are not victimless crimes.”
Hobbs said Cuff lacked “an appreciation for the abuse (the children in the images) suffer.” The judge actually went above what the state was recommending in handing down his punishment “based on the level of reprehensibility” of Cuff’s behavior.
In her argument for a sentence of 15-30 years behind bars, Kimberly Moraski of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office reminded Hobbs that there were real children on the other side of the digital images that Cuff possessed.
“The victimization is endless. The victim pool is endless,” she said.
Moraski emphasized the gravity of Cuff’s crimes, noting that there were 408 images and videos in his possession that led to his conviction. She said at least some of the videos contained numerous still images and estimated that he actually possessed about 8,700 illicit images. Some of those images depicted bound children being hurt, Moraski added.
Also in arguing for the sentence, Moraski said rehabilitating the defendant is important to consider in the hope of cutting off the demand for these images but with Cuff, “rehabilitation is a far way off.”
During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Cuff was argumentative nearly the entire time and based on the testimony offered in court today, that’s how the trial proceeded back in January.
Cuff repeatedly tried to relitigate the case against him at his sentencing hearing rather than show any sort of remorse for what he’d done.
“Everyone else is to blame but him,” Moraski said.
Cuff said investigators with the AG’s office “blatantly made false statements” against him and withheld evidence.
Hobbs reminded him that his sentencing was not the time to argue the case against him again and told him that he’d made attempts to have a lawyer appointed to him as the case progressed.
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