Man sentenced for using son in child-porn conspiracy

From:  The Indianapolis Star 

Tim Evans, The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man who made his young adopted son available to at least eight other people for sex was sentenced to 40 years in prison Friday.

Mark J. Newton, 42, an American who had been living in Australia, was handed the maximum sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sexually exploit a minor and conspiracy to posses child pornography. Federal Judge Sarah Evans Barker said she accepted the plea agreement because the crime was too horrific for a jury.

The case was prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana because images of the sex acts involving the young boy were found on the computer of an Anderson, Ind., man in a larger child exploitation and pornography investigation, U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett said.

The child victim, identified in court as Boy 1, was made available for sex to at least eight men when he was between the ages of 2 and 6, according to court documents made public Friday.  MORE