WORCESTER, Mass. -- An Ashby, Mass. man was sentenced Nov. 14, , in federal court for possessing hundreds of images of homoerotic child pornography -- some involving a child under 2 years of age. One of the two child pornography offenses on which the defendant was sentenced occurred while he was on pretrial release for the first child pornography charge. Both offenses were committed after the defendant was convicted in the mid-s for the rape of a young boy.

U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Kenneth W. Kaiser, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced that Brian K. Racine, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to three years and five months' incarceration, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Gorton sentenced Racine to serve his sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina specially designed for treating sex offenders. He also imposed stringent conditions on Racine after he is released from prison including that Racine register with the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry, that he receive sex offender counseling and treatment, and that he receive treatment for related depression and bipolar disorder.

Racine is prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with children. He may not have a computer in his home and may only access the Internet if work related. Racine pleaded guilty on Aug. 14, , to a superseding indictment charging him with possession of child pornography on Aug. 10, , and with possession of child pornography while on pretrial release on Oct. 16, .

At the plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that law enforcement officers executed a search warrant in August , on a residence in Leominster, Massachusetts which later was determined to be the locus of a group swapping child pornography. Racine's computer was seized in the raid, and his identity was determined from a search of the computer. The computer search also revealed that it was loaded with hundreds of images of young boys engaged in sexual acts with other children and adult men.

Racine appeared in federal court in Aug. 15, , on charges of possessing child pornography; was released on conditions, including, among other things, that he not violate any federal, state or local laws.

In October , the FBI learned that Racine was again engaged in obtaining child pornography from the Internet. On Oct. 17, , FBI agents recovered a second computer from Racine's family home in Ashby, where Racine was living. A forensic examination revealed a recent cache of homoerotic child pornography, some of which Racine attempted to delete the night before the FBI recovered the computer.

Shortly after the second computer was analyzed, Racine was taken into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, where he has remained pending his plea and sentencing.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of the Ashby Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. McNeil in Sullivan's Major Crimes Unit.

Source: U.S. Attorney