He watched men force themselves on little girls, but his employer wanted him back
Gregory A. Mclin admitted he had child porn on his computer but said in federal court Tuesday that he did not “prefer” videos of men having sex with 12- to 14-year-olds, as prosecutors claimed.
Mclin of Huntsville, Alabama, stood before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. to enter a guilty plea to one count of possession of child pornography. He will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Oct.16 at the federal courthouse in Gulfport.
A former Gulfport resident, 45-year-old Mclin could face up to 20 years in prison. The U.S. Attorney’s Office recommended that he be sentenced to half that time in exchange for his guilty plea, but Guirola does not have to follow that suggestion.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones, who prosecuted the case, told Guirola that Mclin’s Gulfport home was searched in November 2016. Investigators with the Gulf Coast Cyber Crimes Task Force found multiple images and nine videos of men engaged in sex with minors, at least one of them under the age of 12.
She said Mclin used peer-to-peer file sharing to download and view child pornography. Other files associated with his computer included sex tapes with girls described as 10 and 7 years old.
Jones said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was able to identify and notify victims on the videos from Mclin’s computer.
“He preferred images of teenagers between the ages of 12 to 14,” she told Guirola.
As part of the plea hearing, Mclin was expected to acknowledge his guilt. He said Jones’ statement of what prosecutors could prove if the case went to trial was for the most part true, except the part about preferring 12- to 14-year-olds.
Mclin did not elaborate before agreeing that he was guilty of possessing child pornography. He told the judge the images “were on my computer. Yes, sir.”
After he was charged in the case, Mclin relocated to Huntsville, where he had been working since April 2017 at Huntsville Botanical Garden. A botanical garden director described Mclin in a letter to the judge as an exceptional employee who had received two substantial pay raises and been promoted to a supervisory job.
“With Greg, trust or follow-through were never questioned,” Thayer Phillips wrote. “He was in a position of trust, having access to and working with large quantities of alcohol, gift shop merchandise and money.
“Greg’s word was always true, his attitude cheerful and positive, and I grew to trust and rely on him more than any other employee under me before or since. It is my greatest hope that Greg can return to the garden in his previous capacity. His presence and work ethic have been greatly missed.”
The letter was submitted for an earlier hearing at which Mclin asked to be released on bond pending trial. Because of the nature of his crime, he was denied bond and jailed until sentencing.
This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 11:36 AM.