Former high school swim coach sentenced for child pornography

BOSTON - A North Attleboro, Mass., man, a former swim coach for the Attleboro YMCA and North Attleboro High School, was sentenced Friday in federal court on child pornography charges, following an investigation conducted jointly with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the North Attleboro Police Department.

Timothy S. Kelly, 40, was sentenced by U. S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to five years in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. Kelly is required to self-report to the U.S. Marshals Service on July 1, 2011.

Kelly, who pleaded guilty to four counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography in February, used an online chat program to communicate with others and transmit pictures in real time. In chats from 2007 and 2008, Kelly received images of child pornography and discussed his sexual interest in girls between the ages of eight and 13.

During the execution of a federal search warrant at his residence, Kelly admitted to collecting and trading child pornography since 2003. The images he received and possessed included prepubescent children engaged in multiple acts of sexually explicit conduct.

This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 12,800 individuals.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.