Child porn charges net Wheeling man 70-year sentence

A 34-year-old former Wheeling man has been sentenced to 70 years in prison for producing and transmitting child pornography, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

“No civilized society can permit (conduct like this), no matter the circumstances,” federal Judge Ronald Guzman said during Darrick Boroczk’s sentencing hearing late Tuesday.

Boroczk’s attorneys had sought the minimum 15-year sentence, citing testimony they presented from psychiatrists and therapists who stated Boroczk presented a “low likelihood of recidivism.”

However, Guzman instead sentenced Boroczk to the minimum 15-year sentence for each of the four counts of manufacturing the pornography and tacked on an additional 10 years for the possession charge. Boroczk was ordered to serve the sentences consecutively.

Boroczk was arrested in 2009 after a federal raid on a home in Pennsylvania. That raid turned up thousands of images of child pornography, including several pictures and movies created by Boroczk. Those images were traced back to Boroczk by investigators and he has been in custody ever since, authorities said. Court records indicate the images show Boroczk sexually assaulting a girl who appears to be between the ages of 3 and 5. Prosecutors also believe Boroczk molested a 2-year-old boy in 2006.

Boroczk’s attorneys painted him as a “normal guy” raised in Chicago’s south suburbs, who became embroiled in online pornography as his marriage began unraveling. Defense attorneys argued Boroczk became “addicted” to pornography that grew increasingly more taboo as his obsession with it blossomed.

Boroczk pleaded guilty in March of last year and had been awaiting sentencing ever since.