FORKS — A Forks man whose internet user name was Ginja Ninja was sentenced last week to two years and eight months in prison for possessing child pornography.
Robert J. Meckler, 26, downloaded images and videos of prepubescent girls engaged in sex acts from other internet provider addresses and secretly recorded videos of children and adults in public places, according to Superior Court documents that led to his May 2020 arrest.
He was sentenced to 34 months Thursday on two counts of first-degree possession of child pornography as part of a plea deal that dropped three additional charges for the same offense and requires him to abide by 36 months of community custody upon his release.
Meckler was incarcerated Tuesday at the Clallam County jail, awaiting transfer to the state Corrections Center at Shelton for processing into the prison system.
Meckler, who had no criminal history, was himself a victim of child sexual abuse and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and anxiety disorder, according to a presentence report. He had stopped taking anti-psychotic medication, according to the report.
In a May 21, 2020, interview with State Patrol Detective John Garden, Meckler admitted to being sexually attracted to girls 6 to 12 years old.
“Meckler admitted he was addicted to viewing sexually explicit images of children for about one to two years,” according to the interview.
“He was greatly ashamed and pleaded for help.”
Meckler said he had saved 100 to 200 images of children on cellphones and met an underage girl on his gaming platform who sent him a sexually explicit photo of herself.
“He stated he never met that female nor has ever done anything in ‘real life’ to a child,” according to the interview.
To Meckler’s credit, according to the presentence report written by Community Corrections Officer Gerald Brown, Meckler admitted his wrongdoing.
“I’m sure that he was motivated to admit guilt because he knew what was to be discovered on his electronic devices,” Brown said.
Authorities were alerted to Meckler downloading illegal pornographic images and videos from a “cybertip” that the Seattle Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force sent to the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.
The police department’s information was based on a tip from Google that gave Meckler’s email address and said his user name was Ginja Ninja.
Meckler had downloaded four files of child pornography to his Google photos between Sept. 10, 2019, and Feb. 27, 2020, according to the cybertip.
His account included more than 50 internet protocol addresses, which indicate a home, business or publicly available network, that Meckler accessed, including four with files from which images and a video of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct were uploaded.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
