'What you did was horrific': Pensacola man gets 10 years for child pornography charges
A Pensacola man was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Thursday after pleading no contest to possessing at least 80 different files of child pornography.
Fallon Matthew Coburger, 48, is set to spend the next decade in Florida’s Department of Corrections for possessing child pornography that was found on multiple devices by Escambia County Sheriff’s deputies on April 26, 2021.
“You downloaded, not just viewed or possessed it, but you literally downloaded these so that you would have them,” Escambia County Circuit Judge Coleman Robinson said prior to sentencing Coburger. “Whether you’re a good person or bad person I don’t know, and that’s a subject to a debate I don’t really care to be a part of because what you did was horrific.”
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Coburger was initially charged with 20 counts of possessing at least 10 photographs of child sexual performance; however, his agreement with the state meant they would not prosecute counts nine through 20 if he pleaded no contest on counts one through eight.
Coburger’s 10-year sentence is for count 1, followed by two years of community control and eight years parole for counts two through eight. Coburger will also be designated as a sex offender.
Prior to the sentencing, Coburger’s father, Michael, gave a statement to Robinson, saying that Coburger did something wrong, but is not a danger to anyone or their children.
“He’s dishonored himself. He’s dishonored his family,” Coburger's father told the court. “Matt is not a danger to anybody.”
Coburger was arrested two months after a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children showed a photo of child pornography on a file sharing account linked to Coburger’s email address.
The photo from the tip line showed two nude females between 5 and 10 years old in a lewd or lascivious manner.
After a search warrant for the file sharing account data on Feb. 24, 2021, authorities discovered over 20 files of child sex abuse material of various children under the age of 12. A second online folder held an additional 136 child sex abuse files.
Once authorities discovered Coburger’s home address, they enacted a search warrant on April 16, 2021, and interviewed Coburger. He then provided “extensive detail” on how he obtained the child pornography.
“Let’s remember this wasn’t simply viewing it. This was downloading it. This was keeping it,” Robinson said during the hearing. “He was taking it from some place that a law-abiding citizen has no business being on the internet.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola man Fallon Coburger sentenced for child porn possession
