University graduate Jeff Stockton was sentenced Monday to pay more than $87,000 and serve a year and a day in prison after pleading guilty to copyright infringement earlier this year before the U.S. District Court in Eugene.
Stockton, 21, will also be on probation for three years following his release from prison, and his parole officer will have access to his financial records and computer during the supervision period.
The former University student and former Emerald employee, who now lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, pleaded guilty Jan. 30 to illegally copying and selling Adobe Systems software while he was a journalism student at the University.
The Eugene Police Department, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, searched Stockton’s apartment, post office box, bank account and car last year after an undercover investigation confirmed Stockton’s criminal actions. In the Jan. 13, 2000, raid on Stockton’s apartment, officers confiscated pirated software, computer equipment and $4,600 in cash. They also seized an additional $9,000 from his bank account.
According to court documents, Stockton sold pirated CD-ROMs with Adobe programs such as Photoshop to some University students and others, using an alias on the Internet. Adobe’s retail loss was estimated to be $490,644.
Stockton will have to pay $87,391.81 to Adobe to help compensate for the loss, but he will not have to pay any additional fines.
Also during the raid on Stockton’s apartment, investigators discovered that Stockton had visited and downloaded images from more than 100 pornographic Web sites, including ones that contained child pornography. As part of his sentencing, Stockton must undergo a psychiatric evaluation to ensure he does not pose a threat to children.
Until the evaluation is complete, Stockton is prohibited from interacting with minors unless approved by his parole officers and the court, which means he will have to discontinue some of his volunteer work with his church.
Chief Judge Michael Hogan of the U.S. District Court also ruled that Stockton’s computer may be inspected during his three-year probation period. The judge’s sentencing restricts Stockton from using the Internet to download pornography.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Hoar said that Stockton agreed to the mental health evaluation in exchange for the prosecution not bringing charges regarding the child pornography issue.
“Our concern is based on what we saw,” Hoar said. “If someone has a tendency to be a predator to children, we want to do what we can to protect his access to children.”
Because Stockton had his wisdom teeth pulled Friday, he could not speak at his sentencing. But his attorney, Mark Weintraub, relayed his messages to the court.
“He just wants the court to know that he’s sorry,” Weintraub said.