Air Force colonel slated to command base that hosts Air Force One is sentenced in child porn case
WASHINGTON – An Air Force colonel slated to command the base that hosts Air Force One has been sentenced to five years in prison for receiving child pornography, according to Defense Department officials and court records.
Col. Mark Visconi, 48, admitted to federal authorities that he had downloaded pornographic images and videos of girls, court filings show. Visconi also admitted using his cell phone camera to take hundreds of photos of girls' clothed buttocks and to take pictures under their skirts.
Visconi was also sentenced Friday to 15 years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty in October.
The decorated combat veteran had been a rising star in the Air Force before his arrest. Visconi had been slated to take command of the 11th Air Wing, which serves as the host command at Joint Base Andrews.
Andrews is the home of Air Force One, the plane that ferries the president around the world, and other aircraft for senior civilian and military officials. The Air Force's 89th Airlift Wing flies those aircraft.
Visconi graduated in 1993 from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. A special operations pilot, Visconi was awarded two Bronze Star medals for combat missions in Iraq. He flew 106 combat missions there and trained Iraqi pilots how to conduct counterinsurgency operations. He also received commendations for flying in combat in the former Yugoslovia, according to the Air Force.
Visconi earned two master's degrees and was an Arab linguist. Prior to his arrest, he served as chief of the Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force at the Pentagon.
His record of military and academic achievement masked a dark side, federal prosecutors alleged. Visconi used a router that concealed his identity as he browsed imagery on the "Dark Web" involving girls being sexually abused, according to prosecutors.
"The defendant downloaded and viewed videos that were inherently sadistic," federal prosecutors noted in requesting that Visconi be sentenced to eight years in prison. They also noted that Visconi had taken "hundreds of pictures focused on the buttocks of juvenile girls."
Prosecutors argued the court should hold Visconi to a higher standard because he abused his position of trust as an Air Force colonel. Visconi, they wrote, spurned that trust and chose to "commit a crime at the expense of society's most vulnerable members."
Visconi's relatives, in letters to the court, asked U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis for leniency. Visconi had been sexually abused as a boy, one relative wrote to Ellis, and his military service had prevented him from seeking counseling. His ex-wife pleaded for leniency so Visconi could help support their two children.
Visconi's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Visconi’s security clearance was suspended immediately after the Air Force was notified of his potential criminal activity by law enforcement agencies, according to an Air Force official who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Following the sentence, the Air Force will now seek to kick him out of the service.
"If approved, this will result in the loss of Col. Visconi’s ability to apply for retirement or to receive any other benefit afforded for honorable service," said Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Air Force colonel slated to command Andrews sentenced for child porn
