“I can’t let this happen again,” Rose told Konat.
Rose said Konat is in need of serious, extensive treatment during a sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon in Dayton. The only way he could be sure that Konat was getting it was for him to be behind bars, he said.
“Child pornography is a plague. It’s a sickness,” Rose said before imposing the sentence.
Konat’s legal trouble began in January 2018 when a woman found pictures of her daughter on his phone, according to a police affidavit. The mother brought a digital memory card to the office, the affidavit says, and investigators found a video.
“It showed Dalton setting up his phone, hiding it under the toilet in the bathroom, putting items around it to conceal the camera and phone,” the affidavit says. “He then leaves the bathroom and the juvenile female comes in.”
Konat would eventually be indicted in federal court on charges of creating child pornography and possessing child pornography. He pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, but in the plea deal agreed the judge could take the creation of the video into consideration during sentencing.
Konat’s attorneys had argued that he deserved 36 months in prison, noting the child was not sexually abused and that there is no accusation of physical contact with the child against Konat. They also said Konat was abandoned by his parents at a young age and he was abused as a child.
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Prosecutors disagreed, asking the judge to sentence Konat to between 135 months to 156 months.
The judge said Konat has taken responsibility for his actions and is remorseful for them. That remorse was on full display Tuesday afternoon as Konat sobbed and apologized.
“I owe an apology to everyone and especially the victim,” Konat said. “It was my responsibility to protect her and by not doing so I am deeply ashamed.”
He said his actions were inexcusable and that he was deeply ashamed.
The mother of the victim also addressed the court Tuesday and told the court that she would never allow Konat to see her kids again — even his biological children.
“He’s been the wolf in sheep’s clothing,” she said of Konat. “I lose sleep and sob every day knowing what he had done to my daughter.”
She said Konat deserved a long prison sentence.
“I pray he can never do to another family what he hs done to mine,” she said.
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