A 25-year-old Bremen man pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography Feb. 26 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Zachary R. Rancourt will also serve a year of probation, according to court documents. His probation conditions prohibit contact with children under 16 except family members under parental supervision, prohibit internet access, prohibit the possession or viewing of “sexually oriented material,” and subject him to random search.
Rancourt pleaded guilty to class D possession of sexually explicit materials. The Lincoln County District Attorney’s Office dismissed two counts of class C possession of sexually explicit materials and two more counts of the class D charge.
A class C crime is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. A class D crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail.
The difference between class C and D crimes in child pornography cases is the age of the child – under 12 in class C crimes, under 16 in class D crimes.
Justice Daniel Billings sentenced Rancourt to nine months in jail with all but 30 days suspended. If Rancourt violates probation, he could return to jail for up to the full nine months.
The Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit investigated the case. A forensic analyst identified an IP address “as a potential target” May 1, 2014, according to an affidavit by Detective Jason Bosco. Investigators tracked the IP address to the Rancourt household.
The unit executed a search warrant at Rancourt’s residence May 6, 2014. Rancourt “fully cooperated and confessed to downloading child pornography,” Bosco said in the affidavit.
