
DATE: Saturday, July 19, 1997               TAG: 9707190305

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

PHYSICIST CONVICTED FOR DOWNLOADING CHILD PORN

A nuclear physicist was convicted Friday in federal court for downloading child pornography off the Internet and storing it on his home computer.

Sirish Kumar Nanda of Newport News faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Despite arguments from his attorney that the conviction would ruin Nanda's life and career, the jury determined that Nanda knowingly received the material. Nanda is a researcher with The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, formerly known as the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, in Newport News.

The case is one of several hundred nationwide investigated by the FBI since 1994 in an undercover operation called ``Innocent Images.''

To be convicted in federal court, a defendant must knowingly receive child pornography from someone in another state. The file received by Nanda was created in Florida, sent to Chicago, then to Hampton Roads. An Internet surfer who regularly cooperates with the FBI obtained the file and sent it to the FBI, helping break the case.

Nanda's computer was seized in August from his home after agents learned the file was sent to him. Nanda admitted to FBI agents that he received the images, a series of still photographs depicting young girls in sexually explicit poses or engaged in sexual acts.

Nanda also engaged in lewd cyber-chats in which he posed as a father having sex with a young girl. Transcripts, seized from the hard drive of his computer, were admitted as evidence.

Those involved in the trade of child pornography frequently make contacts and learn of materials during such chats, computer experts testified.

Jurors reacted physically during testimony Thursday, several obviously disgusted, as photographs were televised during testimony. A local pediatrician, John M. de Triquet, testified that the girls depicted were pre-teen or in their early teens.

``You should have uncomfortable feelings,'' federal prosecutor Arenda Allen told jurors during closing arguments. ``These charges are serious.''

Computer experts testified that child pornography rarely shows up unsolicited attached to e-mail on the Internet. Of 50 prospective jurors in the case, none had ever received unsolicited child pornography.

Those seeking it must actively search the net for photographs and video, looking for names associated with child pornography.

The photos sent to Nanda were compressed in a single file called HOTYOUNG.ZIP. Nanda downloaded the file, then stored it in a directory identified as LGS. Computer experts testified the initials probably stood for ``little girls.''

Nationally, investigators are working on about 500 cases, a fraction of the 4,000 individuals identified as swapping child pornography online. The FBI tends to focus on those who distribute. However, as with Nanda, users are sometimes prosecuted as part of a larger case. ILLUSTRATION: Drawing

Sirish Kumar Nanda downloaded sexually-explicit photographs from the

Internet and engaged in lewd cyber-chats.

Graphic

CHILD PORN

It is rare, but if you receive unsolicited child pornography,

immediately notify your Internet provider or the FBI.

If you unwittingly download child pornography from the Internet,

immediately notify the FBI. It could help break a case. You can only

be charged if you knowingly receive child pornography. KEYWORDS: CHILD PORNOGRAPHY INTERNET TRIAL