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Preschool Employee Convicted On Child Porn Charges Learns His Fate

DENVER (CBS4) - A former preschool worker learned his fate after admitting to distributing child pornography and accepting a plea deal.

U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez on Tuesday sentenced David Moe, 46, to serve 96 months in federal prison and to spend 10 years on supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $5,000 each to three victims who filed requests with the court. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Moe worked at the Paddington Station Preschool in Denver when authorities found a massive amount of photos and video containing child pornography. Prosecutors said 800,000 images and 13,000 clips of video were found in his home.

The government says when converting the clips of video to images Moe actually possessed 1.7 million images in total. Moe claims he collected them over a 10-year span.

Doctors say Moe admitted to viewing child porn for 16 years, much while working at the day care. An expert testified he did not pass a polygraph when specifically asked if he engaged in sexual behavior where he worked. The opinion of two doctors is that Moe's emotional needs were being met by the children he worked with but they do not believe it was a sexual, physical need.

Many of the parents at Paddington Station have remained quiet. CBS4's Jennifer Brice talked with one parent who didn't want to be identified.

"I would like to see him get life for what he did and was doing. It was completely horrible. I would rather see him sit there and have to face this. Him pleading guilty, he's kind of taking the easy way," the parent said.

Moe addressed the court on Tuesday. It was the first time the public has heard from him. He apologized to the court and to the parents. He said he now knows after so many years of viewing child porn he understands every time he viewed it he was victimizing a child.

Moe also reassured the parents that were in the courtroom and wanted the court to know even though he viewed porn for so many years he did not ever act out what he saw in the pornography. He wanted to ensure the parents he never harmed the children.

Moe's attorney says the case has created a ton of fear, but there is no evidence that he ever did anything to cause harm to the children at Paddington Station. She said punishment is important but treatment is far more critical because he will be released at some point and they want to ensure he's not a threat.

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