'Foxy' Gagnon given 5-year sentence

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Raymond "Foxy" Gagnon

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August 18, 2010

Retired teacher called low risk to reoffend on child-porn charge

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG Staff Writer The Press Republican Wed Aug 18, 2010, 03:28 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH — Former teacher Raymond "Foxy" Gagnon will spend five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

The 61-year-old was sentenced Tuesday morning after having pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography, the higher of the two original charges against him.

APOLOGY

Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, Gagnon made an emotional appearance in an Albany courtroom before U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe.

Gagnon apologized to "my victims on the Internet. I apologize to my family and friends. I am very sorry for what I have put them through. I especially apologize to the thousands of former students who used to look up to me. I know I have disappointed them greatly."

'NO EXCUSES'

He said there are reasons for his behavior, "but I make no excuses. I knew right from wrong.

"If there are men in my community who are doing what I was doing, I hope they will stop and seek help," he added.

Gagnon said he was ready to accept the sentence. He mentioned that his mother will soon be 89 years old, "and I may never see her again. That is the greatest penalty of all."

The maximum he could have been sentenced to was 20 years and a $250,000 fine.

Gagnon, who was deemed a low risk to re-offend, did not receive a fine. He will serve the entire five years, minus the County Jail time he already did.

He will also have to be under supervised release for the rest of his life and abide by numerous requirements, such as computer monitoring.

IMAGES

Authorities began investigating Gagnon following the arrest of international child-porn distributor Sergio Marzola of Italy in 2006.

During that investigation, Gagnon was found to have purchased one pornographic image from an illegal website that Marzola operated. That image reportedly involved Marzola violating a teenage girl.

Gagnon later cooperated with authorities and admitted he possessed the illegal material to view for his personal gratification.

Officials said a search of Gagnon's computer ultimately revealed 300 images involving the sexual performances of children, including one that showed a young girl between the ages of 6 and 8 being victimized by an adult male.

Those images are believed to have been downloaded from websites or sent to him by others.

SENTENCING

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday pushed for a harsher sentence, based on the type and number of images found on Gagnon's computer.

In handing down the minimum term, Sharpe said he needed to balance those factors with Gagnon's positive personal history, such as his years of activism with more than a dozen community organizations.

But, Sharpe said, Gagnon's years of dedication in his classrooms and community also didn't excuse him from stiff punishment for his crimes.

Gagnon never had physical contact with minors, but, Sharpe said, "there are real victims here" and that Gagnon's actions supported a market for the criminal exploitation of minors.

"What you did is reprehensible, and there has to be a message sent to the community (that it won't be tolerated)," Sharpe said as he described how and why he decided to render the minimum sentence.

IMPACT STATEMENTS

Sharpe noted that several of the victims in the images found on Gagnon's computer have been identified.

At least two of the victims sent Gagnon victim impact statements, though the details of those letters were not disclosed in court.

Stewart said Gagnon voluntarily made an undisclosed amount of restitution to one of the victims, something the judge acknowledged in his sentencing.

TEACHING CAREER

Gagnon retired in 2005 after a distinguished career as a teacher for the Plattsburgh City School District and then occasionally served as a substitute teacher. He had not taught for the district for some time before his June 2009 arrest.

Gagnon was also well known in the community for taping events for broadcast on Charter Cable access television and had written a popular blog called "On the Sly" for the Press-Republican.

LIFE OF SHAME

Gagnon was accompanied in court Tuesday by his brother, Gary "Goose" Gagnon, and a few other family members.

Gagnon's attorney, Daniel Stewart with the Albany law firm of Brennan and White, said it was likely Gagnon will serve his time at Federal Medical Center at Devens in Massachusetts.

Stewart commended the judge for handing down what he called an appropriate sentence, based on the circumstances of the case and Gagnon's personal history.

Before his sentencing was announced, Gagnon tearfully told the court "I have already sentenced myself to a lifetime of living in shame and regret."

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at: avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com