Wise said that the technician did a “great service” for exploited children by reporting the find.The computer was seized and a search warrant executed on Sellers’ Santa Paula home.It is not believed that the images - which included photographs of young children and toddlers being raped that Wise said were particularly disturbing - were of local children.Sellers was arrested in July 2006 and earlier this year pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor offenses, possessing child pornography and one-count of child exploitation.Santa Paula Police Lt. Carlos Juarez said in an earlier interview that Sellers obtained the pornographic images through computer file sharing.Possession of child pornography would not be possible if a greater crime had not occurred: the sexual abuse of children.Such images can also be obtained by predators who “see the images and want to act on them” noted Lt. Juarez. “...look at all those kids out there that are victims” who may never be identified while their abuse continues.
S.P. Man sentenced for possessing child pornography
March 21, 2007
Santa Paula News
A Santa Paula man who took his child pornography laden computer to an Oxnard repair shop and was charged before a change in the law would have required a longer prison sentence was sentenced March 15 for possessing thousands of pictures, including those depicting the rape of small children and toddlers.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesA Santa Paula man who took his child pornography laden computer to an Oxnard repair shop and was charged before a change in the law would have required a longer prison sentence was sentenced March 15 for possessing thousands of pictures, including those depicting the rape of small children and toddlers.David Michael Sellers, 58, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and three years probation for possessing child pornography according to Deputy District Attorney Howard Wise, who had asked that Sellers be sentenced to the maximum of one-year in jail.“Sellers will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life,” noted Wise.State law implemented in September would have required that the charges against Sellers, who had more than 10,000 explicit images on his computer, be upgraded to felony status carrying a minimum three-year state prison sentence.At the time Sellers was charged possession of child pornography was a misdemeanor offense.Sellers did not take the photos first discovered by a technician when he took his computer to an Oxnard facility in August 2005.When the technician discovered the images he notified the Oxnard Police Department, which worked Santa Paula Police and the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation assigned to the Southern California High Tech Task Force.
