Detroit pornographer molested his friend's kids, filmed it — then got a break in court

When it comes to child pornographers, prosecutors say, Nathanal Pace is considered among the worst of the worst.

He didn't just look at pictures of naked kids, court records show, but sexually assaulted children, filmed the acts and shared it with the world on the internet. Two of his victims were a friend's children, ages 8 and 4. The third was a 3-year-old boy he "snatched from a church nursery," records show.

Prosecutors argued 27-year-old Pace deserved 50 years in prison for his crimes.

But in court Thursday, U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland gave him 35 years, taking into account that Pace had been sexually abused as a child, grew up in poverty and had a clean record until now.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued Pace's past should not have mattered — not given what he did as an adult.

'Damage done to Pace's victims is permanent'

"Nathanal Pace robbed at least three small children of their innocence in order to fuel his sexual desires," Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Smith argued in her sentencing memo, maintaining "there is simply no sentence short of 50 years" that would suffice for his crimes.

"Pace has participated in some of the most vile and heinous crimes in our society. Worse, he has continuously done so for virtually his entire adult life," Smith writes. "These children are not abstractions or objects, they are real people who experienced untold horror in order to fuel Pace’s sexual appetite."

As for Pace's past abuse as a child, Smith wrote: "It is important to note that no scientific data exists that would show a causation between sexual abuse as a child and a later sexual interest in children. ... The damage done to Pace’s victims is permanent."

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How the feds identified a child pornographer

According to records in U.S. District Court, here is how Pace landed on the federal government's radar:

In November 2019, Michigan State Police received tips from the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children that a user had uploaded about 36 suspected child pornographic videos and images to a Dropbox account in September in the name of Nathanal Pace. An investigation followed and the activity led investigators to a house on Bringard Street in Detroit, where the pornography was being downloaded.

On Dec. 5, state police and federal agents executed a search warrant at the Bringard Street home in Detroit, where Pace was living with nine children ranging in ages from younger than 1 to 14 years old. He lived less than two blocks from a school.

During the search, investigators found a massive electronic library of sexually abusive materials involving children — "too large to count," the prosecutor wrote, adding the images were "graphic, disgusting and horrific depictions of the sexual assault of children."

"These images depict the horrific abuse of small children that would repulse most people. But not Pace," the prosecutor wrote. "These images were sought out and saved, so defendant could access them for his sexual pleasure over and over again."

6,000 child images on his cellphone

According to court records, police read Pace his Miranda rights during the search of his home, and he agreed to be interviewed. During the interview, prosecutors say, Pace "admitted that he used his friends' children to his sexual advantage." One was an 8-year-old boy, the other a 2-year-old girl. He said he groomed them by giving them candy, showing them pornographic materials and wrestling around with them.

Pace also confessed that he forced the two children to perform a sex act on him, and then molested them both, the prosecutor wrote.

Pace also told investigators that they would find about 6,000 child pornographic images on his cellphone.

According to court documents, Pace molested his third victim at his family's church, where he pretended to be helping with babysitting when he took a diapered toddler into the bathroom and started snapping sexual pictures of both him and the child.

The child was unknown to him, though investigators confirmed the identity of the toddler.

"This defendant’s behavior takes on multiple roles," the prosecutor argued in a sentencing memo." He manipulated and groomed his friend in order to gain access to her children. Once he had them alone, he sexually abused them, and memorialized their abuse forever by taking photos of it."

The prosecutor continued: "He snatched a child out of a church nursery for his sexual pleasure. And he spent a significant of time online trading his products, meticulously categorizing folders in his online cloud storage accounts."

On April 28, Pace signed a plea agreement with the government in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography. Other charges were dismissed in exchange for his plea. His court-appointed attorney, Jonathan Epstein, could not be reached for comment.

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Judge shows mercy to Detroit pornographer Nathanal Pace