Sarasota man, 80, sentenced to 16.25 years in prison for possessing child pornography
A Sarasota man, who was arrested in 2020 after employees at a repair shop found illegal images on his phone, was convicted of 15 counts of possessing child pornography and sentenced to 16.25 years in prison.
Richard Paul Sundstrom, 80, entered an open plea agreement on Dec. 4, allowing Sarasota Circuit Court Judge Thomas Krug to determine his sentence, according to a news release by State Attorney Ed Brodsky's office. Krug also sentenced Sundstrom to five years of sex offender probation following his time in prison.
In case you missed it: Sarasota's self-proclaimed 'Annuity King' sentenced to 15 years in federal prison
Scam alert: Sarasota official warns of rise in jury scam calls demanding residents pay to avoid arrest
Assistant State Attorney S. Ethan Dunn, the lead prosecutor, said in a statement that the case serves as a reminder to parents to be vigilantly on the lookout for those who wish to prey upon the community's children.
"Thanks to the thorough investigation of the detectives at the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the Defendant is being held accountable for his crimes," Dunn said. "This sentence protects the children of this community and serves as a valuable reminder that those who prey upon children will find no safe haven in our community – this behavior will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows."
According to previous reporting, Sundstrom took his phone to a "UBREAKIFIX" store on Feb. 10, 2020. While working on the phone, employees discovered images of nude children and called the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Sundstrom also used graphic sexual terms while searching for naked young girls, according to the news release.
Detectives executed a search warrant on Sundstrom’s phone and found more than 30 images depicting child sexual abuse.
When Sundstrom came to pick up his phone, he was met with detectives who interviewed him after reading him his rights. Sundstrom admitted to downloading the images and said he had been sexually attracted to children for the last 10 years, according to previous reporting. He added he didn't think there was anything wrong with possessing the images.
More Sarasota court news: North Port man found guilty of fatally shooting sister's boyfriend in November 2022
More court news: Jury finds Nokomis man guilty on all counts in fatal hit-and-run that killed one, injured another
The news release stated that Sundstrom also told detectives he attended Riverview High School sporting events regularly and had befriended several of the female high school athletes through social media, where he would save photos of them in bikinis on the beach.
"He even had one picture of a nude adult female labeled as a “doppelganger” for a specific student at the school," the news release said. "The Defendant had no children or relatives who attended the school."
At the time of the investigation, Sundstrom was charged with 37 felony counts of possession of child pornography, according to previous reporting.
Gabriela Szymanowska covers the legal system for the Herald-Tribune in partnership with Report for America. You can support her work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America. Contact Gabriela Szymanowska at gszymanowska@gannett.com, or on X: @GabrielaSzyman3.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota man sentenced to prison for possessing child sex abuse images
