Nelson Daranciang, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser –
The son of British rocker Jim McCarty, drummer of the 1960s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group the Yardbirds, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for producing child pornography that shows him sexually abusing underage boys.
Simon Jasper McCarty told U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright he knows what he did was wrong and has taken steps to change.
“I’ll never, ever do that again,” McCarty said.
His lawyer William Harrison asked Seabright to sentence McCarty to 15 years in prison, the minimum term to which McCarty agreed in a plea deal with the federal prosecutor.
Without the plea agreement, McCarty would have faced a possible life prison term.
Seabright told McCarty he is a sexual predator who used his charm on the boys he molested and their mothers to gain their trust. He instead sentenced McCarty to 30 years, the maximum prison term spelled out in the plea deal.
“In my view, despite what you said to me, you continue to be a danger to others,” he said.
After McCarty, 39, completes his term, he must submit to probation-like court supervision for the rest of his life.
The British government, however, has placed a hold on him for deportation back to England when he gets out of prison. McCarty is a British citizen.
Hawaii County police arrested McCarty at Hilo Airport in August 2008 after Transportation Security Administration officials found child pornography photographs in McCarty’s luggage. Police later found digital images and videos of child pornography on McCarty’s laptop computer.
McCarty, like his father, is a drummer.
Harrison said McCarty was in Hawaii to participate in a drum camp.
Of the nearly 200 video clips of child pornography that were on McCarty’s computer, federal officials determined 60 were of him having sex with three different boys. They were able to identify two of the boys, who are children of single mothers in England. One was no more than 10 years old when the videos were produced. The other boy was no older than 11.
McCarty has agreed to pay the first boy $58,485 restitution and the second boy $40,000.
Officials were not able to identify the third boy, whom they believe was no older than 6 when he appeared in the videos. They believe he could be Nepalese, based on his appearance and skin color, said Mi Young Park, of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.
McCarty and his mother established a home and school for impoverished children in Nepal.
One of the boys identified in the videos told officials McCarty abused him in England and when he traveled with McCarty to Slovenia and Nepal.
Angela McCarty, who was in court for Friday’s sentencing, said after her son was arrested, the principal of the school in Nepal conducted an investigation and cleared her son of any wrongdoing involving the children there.
Simon McCarty told court officials he was molested when he was a child.
His mother said her son had a difficult childhood. She said her ex-husband traveled often and left her alone to raise her son by herself. She said her son was consistently bullied in school, all the way into college.
