Tacoma man sentenced in federal court for receipt of child pornography
A Tacoma man who pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography has been sentenced in U.S. District Court.
Judge Benjamin H. Settle gave 37-year-old Brandon Culp 7-1/2 years in prison Tuesday.
“You still are a danger to the public,” Settle said at sentencing, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “These victims, these young victims, will be experiencing a life sentence… many will carry scars and wounds and pain their whole life long.”
Culp previously served almost five years in prison for trying to traffic a minor for sex.
“While in the Navy, Culp was prosecuted in military court for using his work computer to access pornography and solicit prostitutes, and for attempted sex trafficking of a minor,” the news release said. “In that case, Culp communicated with someone he believed was a child sex trafficker in Mexico about accessing a child to sexually assault.”
He was actually talking to an undercover officer. Ultimately, Culp was dishonorably discharged.
In 2019 a social media company flagged an account for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children because of images Culp shared of child sex abuse, the news release said.
Investigators said they found more than 800 such images on his devices.
A sentencing memorandum filed on Culp’s behalf said that he went through subsidized sex offender treatment after the previous case. When his supervision ended he could no longer afford that treatment, the memorandum said, and he returned to past behaviors following the death of his mother.
Culp’s sentence Tuesday included 15 years of supervised release.
