Man Gets 30 Years Over E-Mail Child-Porn Ring

A Texas man behind a worldwide e-mail ring that traded pornographic images of children, some as young as 18 months old, was sentenced to the maximum of 30 years in federal prison.

“I’m sorry for the children in the pictures,” Mark Bates, 33, of Palestine said. “I was using the pictures so I wouldn’t go out and hurt anyone. I wasn’t thinking there was actually a person behind the pictures.”

Bates pleaded guilty to trafficking in child pornography via computer. He was the moderator of the “Candyman” e-mail group that served more than 6,000 users, who were expected to contribute images as well as receive them. More than 80 people in 26 states were arrested in the case in March.