Lee school aide gets 20 years in child porn case
By Grant Boxleitner
gboxleitner@news-press.com
A federal judge sentenced a former high school interpreter for the deaf to 20 years in prison this morning for distributing child pornography over the Internet, the maximum recommended under sentencing guidelines.
William Allen Lane, 34, e-mailed 15 child porn pictures to a local tattoo artist and said he’d deliver more than 700 images on a pair of CDs in exchange for a tattoo. The tattoo artist reported Lane to federal investigators in August.
Lane, who resigned his school post at Fort Myers High School from jail, said he had between 4,000 and 5,000 such images, which depict children between 6 and 16 engaged in sex acts. A possession charge was dropped in the plea agreement. Lane pleaded guilty to distributing child porn in December.
In addition to 20 years in prison, U.S. District Judge John E. Steele sentenced Lane to supervised probation for the rest of his life. He also ordered Lane to have no contact with minors or computers with Internet access without written consent from probation officials.
Lane is now a sex offender who will be required to register in whatever state he resides after serving time in prison. Lane will have access to substance abuse counseling and mental health counseling, Steele said.
Lane said he was sexually abused as a child and asked for leniency.
“My life has been ruined by these 15 pictures,” Lane told the judge. “Please help me get the treatment I need.”
U.S. Assistant Public Defender Martin DerOvanesian argued Lane should be given a lesser sentence because he doesn’t have an extensive prior criminal history. In 2003 — before Congress stiffened sentencing guidelines — DerOvanesian said Lane’s recommended sentence would have been between six and seven years, he said.
“His conduct shouldn’t be at the high end of the scale,” DerOvanesian said.
U.S. assistant attorney Yolande Viacava disagreed, saying Lane has an “unhealthy interest in children.” He lied on his application to the school district by saying he used to be a professional singer, she said.
“This defendant did everything he could do to gain access to children,” Viacava said.
Lane was considered a "helping teacher" at Fort Myers High School.
During the 2003-04 school year, Lane was employed as an elementary music teacher at Gateway Charter School, then known as Lehigh Charter.
Lane got a disciplinary letter and was reassigned last year after he sent a text message via cell phone to a student, inviting him to a Halloween party and promising "I will get you drunk," school district records show.
Another message cited in reports mentioned an off-color sexual remark.