A registered sex offender in Richland has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for another child sex crime — this time receipt of child pornography.
Gerald Alan Nott, 63, previously was sentenced to prison in Oregon after attempted sexual abuse of a child while she was sleeping in 2004, according to court documents. He filmed the incident, and he allegedly produced pornography using other children, according to court documents.
He completed a sex offender treatment program in Oregon in 2007.
“This treatment was not successful in preventing defendant from seeking out and distributing the videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children,” said Laurel Holland, assistant U.S. attorney, in a federal court document.
Over a few months from the end of 2022 through early 2023 Nott electronically downloaded about 1,600 images and videos using peer to peer software and made them available to others, including an undercover officer with the Southeast Regional Internet Crimes Against Children, according to a court document.
They included the sexual abuse of children ages about 1 to 4.
Law enforcement traced the internet use to Nott’s parent’s house in Richland, which showed that Nott took care to obtain child pornography at a location other than where he registered in Richland as a sex offender, Holland said.
Nott’s parent’s house on Camas Avenue was under surveillance before a search warrant was executed in March 2023, and Nott became suspicious and attempted to delete files containing child pornography, according to court documents.
When his parent’s house was searched, Nott admitted hiding a tablet he used for child pornography behind a china cabinet.
Nott’s home on Gomer Road also was searched, and a second tablet was found there with more than 100 videos and photos of child pornography.
Richland, Kennewick police investigated
Nott’s family members said they were extremely disappointed by Nott’s behavior, but asked Judge Mary Dimke for as short a prison sentence as reasonable. They said Nott was helping his elderly parents, who likely would not live to see him released from prison.
Nott also might not survive a long imprisonment due to serious health issues, said his attorney Nick Mirr of Yakima. He has serious health issues and was released early in 2010 from his Oregon sentence due to health issues.
He had lived in the Tri-Cities for 10 years and had not been able to find regular work due to his status as a registered sex offender, but helped elderly neighbors with yard work, according to court documents.
Mirr pointed out that his offenses had decreased in severity from producing pornography to receiving pornography.
“While defendant (Nott) has not produced new image or video files of minor children, he continues to seek out image and video files depicting painful and brutal depictions of children on what is arguably the worst day of their lives,” Holland said.
Both the defense and prosecution agreed to ask for a 15-year prison sentence. U.S. Judge Mary Dimke also sentenced Nott to probation for the rest of his life after release from prison.
“This sentence sends a powerful reminder to Mr. Nott and others like him: Crimes that exploit children cannot, and will not, be tolerated,” said Vanessa Waldref, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington . “Mr. Nott ignored the conditions of his release and used the internet to view and distribute horrific depictions of young children being abused.”
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood , a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Richland and Kennewick police departments as part of the regional task force targeting crimes against children.
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