But the 80-year-old Gig Harbor man will spend the rest of his days as a registered sex offender. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to downloading and exchanging pornographic photos of children.

Madland had never been in trouble with the law before, and there’s no indication he ever touched a child inappropriately. But by his own admission to investigators, Madland made some terrible choices when presented with the adult smorgasbord of the World Wide Web.

“There were two worlds I (lived) in,” he told them, “mine and the computer.”

The crime nearly cost him his ability to spend time with his grandchildren.

Madland was released Monday after spending nearly a month in jail. Reached Tuesday, he declined to comment on his case. A daughter referred comment to his attorneys, who did not return a reporter’s calls.

Though Madland is twice as old as the average offender in the state’s database of 20,000 people, his scenario is more typical than one might think, experts say.

“Mr. Madland is similar to many men seen through this office who through the Internet become involved in child pornography,” psychologist Allen Traywick wrote in a psychological evaluation included in court filings. “The clinical picture presented by the client is becoming increasingly common among men perusing the Internet for sexual purposes.”

Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery in Bradford, Pa., said she had seen the same pattern.

“For some people, there’s a plethora of new stuff they’ve never seen before and don’t know how to handle,” she said.

The availability of digital cameras spurred an explosion in the child pornography industry, said Frederick Lane, who studies and writes about technology, pornography and law.

In earlier times, one had to work to find it. Now it’s a couple of search words or a chat room away.

“I don’t think there’s any denying that the increased availability of pornography in general and of child porn in particular is a terrible temptation for a large number of people,” said Lane, who has served as an expert witness in child pornography cases.

He points out that images of youths are increasingly sexualized in popular media.

“Implicitly there’s a message that these young women are sexual beings,” he said. “The broader context is feeding the problem. It’s a community values issue.”

According to court records, Madland bought a computer in 2003 and soon was using it to play games and help Chinese college students learn English. Along the way he discovered instant messaging.

“It took a little bit to realize not everyone was who they said they were,” Madland said in his psychological evaluation. “Once in a while they would send you a picture. Sometimes it would be a couple who wanted to talk. Sometimes it was pornographic.”

It was photos of underage children that got him in trouble. In his statement to investigators, Madland said, “I am not a predator – my interest is in the beauty of the child. Not realizing the problems it created for the children.”

He estimated he had about 100 photos and pledged to cooperate fully with law enforcement. A polygraph examination showed no deception when he said he got no sexual arousal from the photos. But records show he sought them out deliberately.

“Hi – thanks for messaging back,” Madland wrote to someone he was seeking photos from. “For the ages, I guess some very young, but then I like teens too.”

Madland said he was merely curious, but the psychologist felt he was trying to minimize his real intentions.

According to the evaluation, Madland was not sexually abused as a child, as is often the case with those who commit sex offenses. He characterized his marriage as a good one, but said he had patronized massage parlors.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ronald Culpepper sentenced Madland to five years and one month in prison with all but one month suspended. Madland also was fined and ordered to enter a treatment program.

Before Madland was sentenced, his attorneys filed a 43-page memorandum arguing that the increasingly frail man had lived a heretofore honorable life and had already suffered for his actions.

Madland had been humiliated before his wife and his family and labeled with the “Scarlet Letter” of his crime in public records and the state’s sex offender registry, it said.

Worse, after being released on $15,000 bond after charges were filed in July 2007, Madland was forbidden to have contact with his grandchildren, despite his family’s support.

“There has never been any concern about him being around children – ever,” daughter Alita Sherman wrote in a letter to the court asking for his visitation rights to be restored.

The message apparently got through. The judge restored Madland’s right to see his grandchildren as long as the visits were supervised. Jail officials said Madland will be a Level 1 offender, the category considered least likely to reoffend.

As far as sex offenses go, Madland’s crime isn’t strikingly heinous. But police and prosecutors say downloading and looking at images of child pornography is still a serious crime.

“For this material to be procured, someone has to be exploited, and in many cases the children are touched by someone even if the viewer isn’t doing the touching,” Washington State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins said, speaking about child pornography in general.

“Even if they’re not being touched in the photographs, they’re still being exploited, they’re still being abused.”

Ian Demsky: 253-597-8872

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