FL:Top Law Official Helped Crusade Vs.Child Abuse Gets 6 yrs For Same
WEST PALM BEACH - A former top law enforcement official who helped lead the local crusade against child sexual exploitation was sentenced Friday to a little under six years in prison on a child pornography charge.
Anthony V. Mangione, who headed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's South Florida office for four years, possessed up to 150 images of child pornography, some depicting the "extreme abuse of children," according to federal prosecutors.
The stunning case against the decorated law enforcement veteran left many wondering how he became immersed in the dark world of child pornography, trading illicit images on the Internet and pretending to be a mother sexually abusing her children.
Mangione, 52, offered no clear explanation on Friday why he started viewing child pornography. He said that about three years ago he began having drinking problems and stealing his wife's prescription pills.
"I'm pretty much a broken guy," Mangione told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra. "I feel like I'm in a hole eight feet deep with six feet of dirt on top."
Mangione, of Parkland, pleaded guilty in July to e-mailing child pornography to a former school bus driver in Delaware during a six-month period in 2010. After serving his 70-month prison sentence, Mangione will spend an additional 20 years on supervised release.
The FBI and Broward Sheriff's Office seized Mangione's laptop computer in April 2011 after his Internet provider detected him sending child pornography. He quickly retired from ICE and was arrested in September 2011.
Prosecutor Michael W. Grant urged the judge to sentence Mangione to 87 months in prison, arguing that the former law enforcement officer knows the toll child pornography takes on its victims yet was circulating images of children suffering.
"He took the worst moment in (a child's) life and he capitalized on it," said Michael W. Grant, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
Mangione had no supporters speak on his behalf after discouraging family and friends from showing up at the court hearing. Family members and friends wrote letters describing him as a devoted father of three and a dedicated law enforcement officer.
As the Special Agent in Charge of ICE's South Florida office, Mangione supervised more than 400 employees in nine counties. He was regularly at the forefront of arrests of child pornography suspects, vowing to see them punished.
ICE has refused to address questions about Mangione, issuing a statement Friday that the agency "continues to hold our employees to the highest standards of ethical and moral conduct and are proud of the thousands of agents and offiers who exemplify these ideals."
Handcuffed and in a blue prison uniform, Mangione said Friday he takes full responsibility for what he described as "a terrible mistake." But when it came to why he would betray his oath as a law enforcement officer, he didn't come up with an answer.
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