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DEVELOPING: Fox news producer arrested for child porn

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1. Bill Johnson
   Feb 12, 2009
   

   Aug. 20, 1999
   Shawnee graduate gets probation
   COURT: Aaron Bruns is also to pay $1,800 in court costs in computer pornography case.
   By GREG SOWINSKI
   The Lima News
   ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A Lima man was sentenced to three years probation Thursday and must register as a sex offender for 25 years for having child pornography images on his computer at the University of Michigan.
   Judge David Swartz of Michigan’s 22nd Circuit Court also ordered Aaron Bruns to pay $1,800 in court costs. Bruns is not to have access to the Internet and must participate in a sex-offender treatment program, the judge said. He must register as a sex offender with his local sheriff’s office. Bruns, 18 at the time of his arrest in March, told Swartz he was wrong and accepted full responsibility for his crime.
   “I know I made a huge mistake. It’s something I’ve been living with for the last six months,” Bruns said.
   The case against Bruns began earlier this year when police investigators found more than 2,000 images of children on Bruns’ computer, John Reiser, assistant Washtenaw County prosecutor, said last month. Files were highly organized in computer folders with titles such as “Young Poses” or “Church,” Reiser said.
   Some of the folders featured pictures of children partially clad while others contained pornographic photos or short videos of
   BRUNS/B3
   BRUNS
   From/B4
   children, Reiser said. Thousands of pornographic images were found on the computer hard drive but not all were of children, officials said.
   During the hearing Thursday, Bruns’ attorney, Douglas Mullkoff of Ann Arbor, asked the court for probation, saying Bruns had undergone psychological exams and a polygraph test to determine whether he was at risk to get into future trouble. Both tests indicated Bruns was not a danger to society, Mullkoff said.The polygraph examiner determined that Bruns was truthful when he said he did not have a sexual attraction to children, did not use the Internet to sell pornography or to specifically obtain child pornography, Mullkoff said.
   With Bruns’ parents sitting in the courtroom, Mullkoff told the judge about a teen-ager who graduated second in his class at Shawnee High School and was attending the University of Michigan on a full academic scholarship. Bruns also was active in his church and volunteered to do missionary work, Mullkoff said.”This is not an above-average person who comes before you judge, this is an exceptional person,” Mullkoff said.
   A court brief submitted by Bruns’ attorney contained letters from several people, including an unsolicited letter by Shawnee Schools superintendent William Lodermeier who told the judge Bruns “has never been a discipline problem at our school and has been a great source of pride to our community.”
   “It is my hope he will be given the opportunity to redeem his reputation and not be branded for the rest of his life,” Lodermeier’s letter said.
   Prosecutor Reiser reminded the court that Bruns had been in trouble before, having been convicted of an alcohol offense related to giving beer to underage people at a college fraternity party.
   However, the judge agreed with Mullkoff. He said the state’s Youthful Training Act, under which Bruns was sentenced, was established for people like him who had excelled in many activities and deserved a chance to improve their lives.
   “He has a potential for a bright future,” Swartz said.
   Under the act, Bruns’ criminal record disappears if he successfully completes probation. It’s similar to expungement, but court and police records still will exist, Reiser said.
   Bruns pleaded guilty July 2 to distribution of child sexually abusive material. He used the Internet to trade in child pornography when he was a freshman at the University of Michigan, Reiser said. Bruns was arrested March 18 after university police raided his dorm room while he was online and seized his computer, police reported.
   Bruns became the subject of a criminal investigation after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement traced the exchange of child pornography across the Internet back to an account at the University of Michigan. Through a posting on the Internet, Bruns asked for child pornography in exchange for other pornography files, Reiser said. Bruns would negotiate trades based on what other computers users had to offer, he said.
   Greg Sowinski is the criminal justice and general assignment reporter for The Lima News.