Irishman Farrell Corrway, of Dundalk in County Louth, has been sentenced to 100 months in prison to be followed by ten years of supervised release following his guilty plea to possession of 600 child-pornography images earlier this summer.
The Cliffview Pilot reports that Corrway (29) attempted to carry the “sadistic” images through New Jersey’s Newark airport. Corrway had been building clusters of child contacts around the country from whom he acquired his pornographic images.
He had previously been in the United States as part of the Irish Peace Process Cultural and Training Program. This program allowed unemployed young adults from Ireland the opportunity to live and work in the US for up to 24 months.
The program become known as the Walsh Visa Program in honor of Congressman James Walsh of New York. It was discontinued four years ago.
Corrway was first reported to local juvenile authorities in upstate New York two years ago by the mother of a 14-year-old girl who was “coerced” into sending the man naked pictures on Facebook. The young girl believed that Corrway was the same age as her, a lie he evidently told many other children around the country.
He had built up clusters of underage contacts on social media networks, including Facebook, around the country. Through investigations, authorities realized that the man was posing as a teenager and quickly notified the FBI.
After determining that the man was in fact Farrell Corrway, the FBI monitored his online activity. Corrway announced on Facebook that he was planning on returning to Ireland, a move that led the FBI to contact ICE and agents to place Corrway on a watch list.
On September 7, 2010, Corrway was stopped at New Jersey’s Newark airport and asked if he had anything his bags he would be concerned about authorities looking at.
Corrway reportedly grew visibly nervous, and was found to have 600 images of child pornography in his external hard drive. U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said the drive contained images of prepubescent minors and "portrayals of sadistic conduct or other depictions of violence to children."
In June, Corrway offered a guilty plea, which would force him to be named as a sex offender. He was sentenced this month to 100 months in prison, followed by ten years of supervised release.
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